Sec 


\ 


\ 


DISCOURSES 


OF 


REDEMPTION: 


AS   REVEALED    AT 


"SUNDRY  TIMES  AND  IN  DIVERS  MANNERS," 


DESIGNED   BOTH   AS 


BIBLICAL  EXPOSITIONS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE  AND  HINTS 
TO  THEOLOGICAL  STUDENTS 


OP   A   POPULAR    METnOD    OP   EXHIBITING    THE 


"  DIVERS"  REVELATIONS  THROUGH  PATRIARCHS,  PROPHETS, 
JESUS,  AND  HIS  APOSTLES. 


BY  EEV.  STUAET  KOBINSON,    " 

PASTOB  OF  THE  SECOND  CHTTRCH,  LOUISVILLE,  AND  LATE  PBOFESSOR  09 

CHURCH  GOVEBN3IENT  AND  PASTORAL  THEOLOQT  AT 

DANVILLE,  KENTUCKY. 


THIRD     AMEKICAN     EDITION. 


RICHMOND: 

PEESBYTERIAN   COMMITTEE   OF  PUBLICATION. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  1806,  by  Rev.  Stuart  Robinson,  in  the 
Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  Sfates  in  and  for  the  District 
of  Kentucky. 


PREFACE 


That  the  noble  conception  of  British  and  American  Chris- 
tians, half  a  century  since,  of  the  Bible,  "  the  religion  of 
Protestants,"  in  every  household  has  produced  its  fruits,  is 
evinced  in  the  general  Bible  Renaissance  of  our  age — as 
seen  in  the  elaborate  Biblical  disquisitions  of  infidelity  itself ; 
in  the  multiplication  of  learned  critical  helps  for  the  exposi- 
tions of  scripture  ;  and,  more  than  all,  in  the  almost  innu- 
merable issues  of  expositions  and  illustrations  of  scripture 
to  meet  the  general  demand  for  such  knowledge  among  the 
people. 

However  we  may  account  for  the  fact,  this  Renaissance 
has  not  yet  manifested  itself  in  an  equal  degree  in  the  pulpit 
— that  divinely  appointed  agency  for  the  special  and  autho- 
ritative teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  to  the  people.  With 
the  exception  of  perhaps  a  slight  increase  of  the  expository 
lecture,  the  prevailing  method  of  preaching  is  still  that  of 
theological  disquisition,  ethical  essay,  rhetorical,  persuasive 
or  emotional  appeal — founded  upon  a  shred  of  the  Sacred 
Text  chosen  as  a  motto,  or,  at  best,  as  suggesting  simply  the 
theological  topic  of  the  occasion.  Whereas  the  true  theory 
of  preaching  as  gathered  from  the  scriptures,  manifestly 
assumes  its  purpose  to  be  the  showing  of  the  people  how  to 
read  the  Word  of  God ;  and  leading  them  to  feel  that  '^  this 
day  is  the  scripture  fulfilled  m  their  ears,"   and  that  these 


IV  PREFACE. 

are  the  words  of  a  Jesu3  who  not  only  spahe  by  holy  men  of 
old,  but  who  is  now  speaking  with  living  utterance  to  the 
men  of  this  generation. 

Having,  through  a  ministry  of  twenty  years,  to  congrega- 
tions variously  composed,  in  four  different  cities,  been  accus- 
tomed, in  pursuance  of  the  latter  theory  of  preaching,  to 
appropriate  one  of  the  public  services  of  the  Sabbath  to 
showing  the  people  how  to  read  the  scriptures,  and  to  follow 
the  development  of  the  one  great  central  thought  of  the  Book 
throuf'-h  the  successive  eras  of  revelation — the  author  can 
testify  from  practical  experience  that  the  people  need  no 
other  attraction  to  draw  them  to  the  house  of  God  than  a 
simple,  rational  and  practical  exposition  and  illustration  of  the 
Bible.  And  he  who  may  once  attract  them  by  such  teaching 
will  find  no  occasion  for  devising  sermons  on  special  subjects, 
or  any  other  theatrical  devices  to  draw  men  to  the  sanctuary. 
The  author's  first  experiment  was  in  a  congregation  composed 
largely  of  the  professional  and  public  men  that  gather  in  the 
capital  of  a  state  ;  his  last  experiment  in  a  city  of  colleges  and 
in  a  congregation  composed  in  large  measure  of  professional 
men  and  students  in  every  stage  of  professional  education ; 
in  two  intervening  experiments  in  commercial  cities  among 
business  men.  And  his  experience  is,  that  with  all  classes 
alike  the  preaching  which  aims  most  directly  at  making  the 
scriptures  a  living  message  from  God  to  men,  translating 
them  into  the  current  forms  of  thought -and  speech,  is  more 
permanently  attractive  than  any  other.  Perhaps  the  most 
encouraging  assurance  he  ever  received  that  his  labours  were 
profitable  to  hearers,  was  in  a  recent  testimony  from  the 


PREFACE.  V 

Students  of  Arts,  Law,  Medicine  and  Theology  in  the  various 
institutions  of  learning  in  Toronto,  which  specially  and  very 
intelligently  pointed  out  the  bcnoSts  which  they  considered 
themselves  to  have  received  from  the  exposition  of  the  gospel 
in  the  order  of  the  successive  revelations,  under  the  several 
covenants  in  the  history  of  redemption. 

The  present  volume  is  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  give  per- 
manent form,  so  far  as  oral  instruction  can  be  transferred  to 
the  printed  page,  to  such  outline  specimens  of  the  author's 
Biblical  Expositions  in  the  several  sections  of  the  inspired 
Word  as  might  be  most  suggestive  to  younger  preachers  in 
their  attempts  to  develop  the  various  parts  of  Scripture  to  the 
comprehension  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  be  instruc- 
tive to  Christians,  and  inquirers,  and  other  earnest  persons 
troubled  with  doubts  touching  the  inspiration  or  the  doctrines 
of  the  Bible.  From  the  titles  of  the  several  sections,  it 
will  be  seen  that  this  is  not  a  collection  of  miscellaneous 
discourses,  but  a  logical  development  of  the  gospel  in  the 
order  of  its  communication.  And  from  the  titles  of  the  several 
discourses  under  each  section  it  will  be  seen  that  the  general 
aim  is  to  discuss  some  of  the  more  germinal  points  of  each 
revelation.  Want  of  space  for  the  full  execution  of  his  plan 
has  compelled  the  author  to  omit  several  subjects  embraced 
in  the  programme  originally,  and  has  suggested  the  purpose, 
if  the  present  effort  is  acceptable  to  the  public,  to  prepare  a 
second  series  of  "  Discourses  of  Redemption,"  filling  up  more 
completely  this  outline,  while  yet  constituting  a  volume  com- 
plete in  itself,  devoted  more  especially  to  the  great  cardinal 
truths  developed  in  the  symbols  of  the  Protestant  Reformation. 


VI  PREFACE. 

Of  course  students  and  others  accustomed  to  more  exact 
forms  of  presenting  religious  truth  will  not  expect  to  find  in 
this  volume  the  precise  and  scientific  style  of  discussion  of 
the  systems  of  divinity  ;  nor  must  literary  critics  look  for  the 
carefulness  and  finish  of  the  religious  essay  where  the  author 
is  aiming  to  transfer  spoken  language,  in  its  popular  forms, 
to  the  printed  page.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  students  will 
find  many  valuable  suggestive  hints  ;  and  that  earnest-minded 
persons — whether  Christian  believers,  or  inquirers  after  the 
way  of  salvation,  or  those  harassed  and  tempted  by  sceptical 
doubts — may  find  these  discourses  of  some  advantage  to  them. 

In  the  Appendix,  the  author  has  discussed  two  or  three 
points  having  a  direct  relation  to  the  subjects  of  the  discourses 
— especially  the  place  of  the  Church  in  the  scheme  of  Re- 
demption, its  ordinances  of  public  worship,  and  its  relation  to 
the  Civil  Government — in  a  more  elaborate  manner  than 
suited  the  style  and  limits  of  a  sermon.  The  conviction  grows 
upon  him  daily,  that  the  questions  there  discussed  have  a  far 
higher  importance  in  the  Gospel  system  than  that  hitherto 
attached  to  them  by  the  Protestant  ministry  ;  and  that  these 
are  destined  to  be  the  great  questions  of  the  next  ten  years 
both  in  the  British  and  American  Churches. 

New  Yoek,  March  26  th,  1866. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY  DISCOURSES 
DISCOURSE  I. 

THE  DIVERSITY  I:N  UNITY  OF  THE  llEVELATION  OF  REDEMPTION. 

Hebrews  i.  1,  2,  and  ii.  1-4. 

PAGB 

The  passages  stand  in  the  relation  of  premise  and  conclusion.  The 
Apostle  reasons  to  directly  an  opposite  conclusion  from  this  pre- 
mise from  that  of  the  Rationalist  and  the  Romanist.  Significance 
of  the  Apostle's  premise.  Fallacies  of  the  Rationalistic  reasoning 
from  the  diversities  of  scripture  —of  the  reasonings  of  the  Romanist. 
False  views  of  Church  diversities 17 

Significance  of  the  Apostle's  reasoning.  The  compound  syllogism. 
"With  whom  he  does  not  reason  here?  What  is  assumed  of  those 
with  whom  he  reasons.  The  force  and  solemnity  of  the  Apostle's 
conclusions 31 

DISCOURSE   II. 

THE  SCRIPTURES  OP  THE  "SUNDRY  TIMES"  INSPIRED  OF  GOD: 
THE  ONLY  SOURCE  OF  SAVING  KNOWLEDGE:  THE  ANTIDOTE 
TO  PEKILOUS  ERROR. 

II.  Timothy  iii.  1,  IG. 

Features  of  the  perilous  times.  Why  the  scriptures  are  antidotes  to 
such  perils.  The  logical  and  exhaustive  character  of  the  classifi- 
eation  of  their  uses — for  doctrine — reproof — correction — instruc- 
tion in  righteousness.  Inspired,  in  what  sense,  and  to  what  extent. 
Difficulties  of  the  theory  of  inspiration  far  less  than  the  difficulties 
of  unbelief.  Divine  adaptation  of  scripture  to  doctrine,  reproof, 
correction,  instruction  in  righteousness 37 


SECTION  I. 
DISCOURSE    III. 


REDEMPTION  AS  REVEALED  TO  THE  PATRIARCHS  IN  THE  THEO- 
PHANIES.  THE  GOSPEL  COVENANT  AND  WORSHIP  OF  THE 
LOST  EDEN. 

Genesis  ii.  8-17;  iii.  15,  21,  and  iv.  4. 

Principles  of  the  interpretation  of  these  ancient  records.     The  estate 
of  man  anterior  to  Eden.     The  Eden  covenant  of  works.     The 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

rationale  thereof.  Its  reasonableness  and  adaptation  to  the  case 
of  man  as  a  new  order  of  being,  from  whom  a  race  of  beings  is  to 
be  propagated.  The  third  estate  of  sin  without  hope.  The  fourth 
estate ;  the  sinner  with  a  gospel  preached.  Analysis  of  the  Eden 
gospel ;  its  eight  points  of  doctrine.  Evidences  of  the  exercise  of 
true  faith  under  the  Eden  gospel.  How  Christ  crucified  was 
preached.  The  manner,  place  and  time  of  the  worship  of  the  first 
sinners.  The  germinal  Church  instituted  at  Eden — substantially 
the  same  with  the  Church  still  existing 57 


DISCOURSE  IV. 

THE  GOSrEL  CHURCH  VISIBLE  SEPARATELY  ORGANIZED:  ITS 
COVENANT  CHARTER  WITH  ITS  SEAL:  ITS  CONSTITUENT 
ELEMENTS. 

Genesis  xvii.  4,  7, 10, 11, 13.~Romans  iv.  11.— Mark  x.  14. 

Importance  of  the  study  of  the  Old,  as  the  key  to  the  New  Testament. 
Remarkable  prominence  of  Abraham  in  scripture.  Why,  at  this 
era,  an  organization  of  the  Chureh  as  distinct  from  the  family. 
Era  of  Abraham  in  the  history  of  redemption,  analagous  to  the 
fourth  day  in  the  history  of  creation.  How  shown  that  this  is  the 
origin  of  the  visible  Church  as  a  separate  organization — The 
charter — its  seal.  Constituent  elements  not  individuals  merely 
but  as  representing  families.  Relation  of  children  to  the  visible 
Church — to  the  invisible.  Argument  for  the  safety  of  all  the 
dead  children 75 


SECTIOlSr  II. 

EEDEMPXION  AS  REVEALED  IN  THE  LAWS  AND  ORDINANCES  OF 
THE  THEOCRATIC  ERA. 

DISCOURSE  V. 

THE  COVEN- ANT  OP  THE   CHURCH'S   REDEJUPTION  ;  ITS  SEAL 
AND   THE  SIGNIFICANCE   THEREOF. 

Exodus  xii.  3,  7, 11-14.— Luke  xxii.  15,  20.— I  Corinthians  v.  7, 8. 

Significance  of  the  Passover  Covenant.  Its  relations  to  preceding 
and  succeeding  covenants.  Two  great  classes  of  truths  exhibited 
in  the  institution  and  observance  of  the  first  Passover.  Objective 
truths — Retributive  justice  of  God — An  elect  covenant  people 
— Vicarious  atonement  for  sin.  Subjective  truths — Tendencies 
to  unbelief— to  cavil — obscure  faith — feeble  faith — strong  faith. 
Free  offer  of  mercy 101 


CONTENTS.  IX 

DISCOURSE  VI. 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SIXA[  COVENANT:  ITS  RULE  OF  LIFE  TO 
CONVICT  OF  SIN:  ITS  RITUAL  TO  TEACH  THE  TAKING  AWAY 
OF  SIN:  AND  ITS  MOULDING  OF  THE  SOCIAL  ORDER  AS  A 
TYPE  OF  CHRIST'S  SPIRITUAL  COMMONWEALTH. 

Exodus  xix.  3-6,  xx.  1-17,  xxiv.  7-9.— Deuteronomy  v.  2,  3,  22,  vi.  1-5,  x.  1-5. 

PAGE 
Circumstances  of  this  covenanting.  Facts  touching  the  Sinai  revela- 
tions. Their  nature  and  purpose.  This  a  covenant  with  tlie  C  hurch 
— as  representative  of  the  Church  in  all  ages — spiritual  in  its 
significancy — fuller  development  of  previous  covenants.  In  this 
view  of  it  lies  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  last  four  books 
of  the  Pentateuch.  Israel  stood  at  Sinai  in  three  aspects,  and  with 
reference  to  each  the  revelations  were  made.  Its  chief  purpose 
to  give  the  Church  a  law  to  convince  of  sin ;  and  ritual  to  teach  the 
taking  away  of  sin  and  purification  of  the  nature.  Rationale  of 
teaching  by  symbols.  Popular  view  of  the  Mosaic  laws  as  repealed 
erroneoiis 119 


SECTION  III 

EEDEMPTION  AS  REVEALED  THROUGH  THE-SPIRIT  OF 'CHRIST  IX 
THE  PROPHETS. 

DISCOURSE  VII. 

THE-OOSPEL  CHURCH  BY   COVENANT    TYPICALLY   SET     FORTH 
AS  THE  ETERNAL    KINGDOM   OF  DAVID'S   SON. 

II.  Samuel  vii.  1-24.— Psalm  Ixxii.  1,  8, 17.— xxxix  3,  4.— Luko  i.  32,— Acts  ii.  30. 

The  origin  of  the  covenant  with  David  historically  considered.  Its 
importance  appreciated  by  David  as  placing  hira  in  the  sphere  of 
Adam,  Noah  and  Abraham.  This  covenant  the  key  to  all  the 
subsequent  parts  of  the  Old  Testament;  explains  the  prominence 
of  David  and  Solomon  in  the  history  of  redemption  ;  develops  the 
kingly  office  of  the  mediator.  Hence  at  the  opening  of  the  New 
Testament  dispensation  the  theme  of  the  gospel  is,  "  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Practical  lessons  from  these  views — the 
importance  of  the  churchly  element  in  the  gospel — the  kingship 
of  Christ  obscured  by  confounding  the  secular  and  spiritual 
powers — the  conversion  of  a  sinner  brings  him  into  a  new  citizen- 
ship— the  evil  tendencies  of  ignoring  the  Church 141 


X  CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE  VIII. 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  KINGDOM  IN   CONFLICT  WITH  AN  APOSTATE 
CHURCH;  AND  WITH  DESPONDING  FAITH. 

I  Kings  xviii.  17-20,  and  xix.  1-14. 
PART  I. 

PAGE 

History  of  the  apostasy  of  Israel.  The  crisis  on  Mount  Oarmel.  Its 
representative  character.  Whom  the  prophet  represents.  The 
fire  test — why  chosen.  Ridicule  a  just  method  with  imposture. 
Victory  of  faith  on  Oarmel 159 

PART  II. 

Fury  of  the  Baal  representative.  Failure  of  faith.  Effort  at  se.f- 
restoration  by  will  worship.  Readiness  to  die  as  an  evidence  of 
piety.     The  lessons  of  Horeb.    Faith  restored 179 

DISCOURSE  IX. 

aHE    gospel    OF    PARDONING    MERCY    AS    PREACHED     BY     THE 
PROPHETS    OF   THE    KINGDOM. 

Isaiah  i.  10-18. 

Of  whom  the  prophet  speaks,  and  to  whom  he  makes  the  offer  of  mercy. 
The  gospel  ever  an  appeal  to  reason.  Why  sin  must  be  the  first 
question  reasoned  with  God.  What  elements  of  aggravation? 
enter  into  the  sins  of  "  scarlet  and  red  like  crimson."  The 
grounds  of  this  assurance  of  pardon 193 


SECTION  IV. 

REDEMPTION  AS  TAUGHT  BY  JESUS  THE  INCARNATE  WORD. 

DISCOURSE  X. 

THE    OFFICIAL  AUTHORrTY,   NATURE,   LIMITS,   AND   PURPOSES 
OP  GOSPEL  PREACHING. 

Luke  iv.  16-21. 

The  condition  of  the  typical  kingdom  at  the  opening  of  Christ's  min- 
istry. This  may  he  considered  the  inauguration  discourse  of  the 
New  Testament  ministry,  to  take  the  i^lace  of  priests  and  prophets. 
The  qualification  for  th3  office.     The  commission  to  speak  authori- 


♦  CONTENTS.  XI  ) 

PAGE  j 

tatirely.    The  security  a^^ainst  abuse  of  the  authority  lies  in  con-  \ 

fining  the  minister  strictly  to  the  functions  of  his  office,  viz., —  | 

"  To  preach  the  gospel " — nothing  else.    Manner  of  preaching — to  | 

aim  to  meet  the  capacities  of  the  poor.     The  purposes  of  preach-  ] 

ing — to  comfort  the  heart-broken,  in  a  world  full  of  sin,  and  there-  1 

fore   of  sorrow — to  deliver  the   captives — to  restore    spiritual  j 

vision — to  hold  forth  a  power  to  overcome  sin — to  proclaim  an  i 

ever-present,  ever-ready  Saviour 207  \ 

DISCOURSE  XI.  I 

j 

THE    GROUND    OF    OUR    SALVATION     NOT    ETHICAL    BUT     EVAN-  '< 

GELICAL;    AND    LIES   WHOLLY   IN  THE  INFINITE  DESIRE   OF 
FATHER,  SON  AND  SPIRIT  TO  SAVE  SINNERS. 

Luke  XV. 

This  chapter  contains  a  discourse  of  Jesus,  in  three  parts,  in  reference 
to  ethical  religionists.  Method  of  the  argument.  Designed  in  the 
three  parables,  to  represent  severally  the  mediator,  the  Spirit 
working    in    the    Church,    and    the    Father   receiving    sinners.  ! 

Sympathy  of  heavenly  orders  in  the  work.     The  true  analogies 
for  interpreting  the  gospel  are  the  heart  impulses  rather  than  \ 

ethical  reasonings.    Picture  of  the  straying  soul — and  of  the  love  \ 

of  the  Father.     Portraiture  of  ethical  religionism  in  the  elder 
brothe"    22T 

DISCOURSE  XII. 

''HE    AWARD     OF    THE    JUDGMENT  TO    COME    TO    BE   MADE   ON  \ 

PRINCIPLES   NOT   ETHICAL  BUT  EVANGELICAL.  | 

Matthew  xxv.  31-46. 

Connection  of  this  judgment  scene  as  the  peroration  of  the  discourse 
begun  in  Matthew,  chapter  xxiv,  concerning  the  close  of  the  two 

dispensations.     Sublime  views  of  the  close  of  the  present  dis-  i 

pensation.     The  assize— the  award.     On  what  principle  made?  i 

Mistakes  concerning  the  principles  of  the  award.     Tlie  six  acts  j 

cited  a  logical  and  exhaustive  summary  of  human  acts.     What  ! 

think  you  of  Christ  ?  the  pivot  upon  which  all  turns.     This  tost  \ 

universally  applicable.    Its  application  to  this  age  of  the  Church..  251  j 

DISCOURSE   XIII.  I 

THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH.  HEAVEN  AND  HELL— HUMANITT 

IN  ITS  OWN  ESSENTIAL  ATTRIBUTES  TO  INHABIT  ETERNITY  ] 

Luke  xvi.  19-31.  ' 

Occasion  of  this  utterance.     The  heroes  of  the  tragedy  in  contrast  on  J 

earth,  preparatory  to  an  infinite  contrast  after  death.     Meaning 


XII  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of  "  carried  to  Abraham's  bosom."  The  life  and  immortality 
taught  by  Jesus,  is  a  transfer  of  the  sinless,  pleasures  of 
life  over  death.  Christ's  estimate  of  the  value  of  services. 
Rich  and  poor  on  a  level  at  death.  Fallacies  of  the  argument 
against  a  hell.  The  dialogue  between  hell  and  heaven.  Prayer 
too  late— the  real  monument  of  every  man's  life.  Hell  the  just 
award  of  retribution.  Hell  the  natural  and  necessary  sequence 
of  a  sinful  life.  The  insincerity  of  unbelief.  Scepticism  comes 
from  want  of  heart,  not  want  of  proof 269 

DISCOURSE  XIV. 

REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  AT  THE  FINAL  APOSTASY  OF 
THE  TYPICAL  KIXaOOM,  IN  THE  "LIFTING  UP"  AND  THE 
"PIERCING"  OF  JESUS  ON  THE  CROSS. 

John  xix.  15  37;  iii.  14,  andxii.  32,  33. 

'Final  act  of  aposta?y  of  the  typical  kingdom.  Why  the  inspired  word- 
pictures  of  his  death  exhibit  him  surrounded  with  relative  objects. 
The  hand-washing  magistrate.  Relative  pictures — humanity 
receiving  the  gospel  from  the  cross.  Central  figure — circumstan- 
ces attending  his  last  hours  on  the  cross.  His  death  expiatory 
or  the  facts  inexplicable.  Note — Blasphemous  criticism  of  Dr. 
Bushnell.  The  prophetic  chorus  around  the  cross.  The  cross- 
preached  gospel  full  of  comfort , 295 


SECTION  V. 


KEDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  BY  APOSTLES    UNDER-THE   DISPEN- 
SATION OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

DISCOURSE  XV. 

THE   APOSTOLIC    STATEMENT   OF    THE  TERMS    OF  SALVATION. 

Acts.  xvi.  29  31. 

This  an  actual  case  arising,  and  just  such  precedent  as  we  need.  The 
miracle  does  not  affect  the  case.  Place  of  miracles  in  the 
gospel.  Two  things  only  to  be  understood — the  object  of  faith 
"the  Lord  Jesus  Christ" — and  the  subjective  act — "believe." 
Why  we  hold  forth  Jesus  Christ  as  the  answer  to  inquiring  sin- 
ners. What  it  is  to  believe.  Proof  that  this  believing,  without 
respect  to  degree  of  strength,  is  all  that  the  gospel  demands  to 
secure  acceptance 32 1 


CONTENTS.  XIII 

DISCOURSE  XVI. 

THE   APOSTOLIC    SUMMARY    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN   CREED. 

1  Timothy  i.  15. 

PAGB 
The  seven  points  involved  in  this  comprehensive  creed.  The  true  key 
to  the  meaning  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  utterance.  The  gospel  rests 
on  the  assumptior  of  man  a  sinner  condemned  and  helpless.  How 
consciousness  attests  the  gospel  teaching  of  sinfulness.  Eeason 
attests  the  gospel  offer  as  faithful,  worthy  of  all  confidence— 
the  heart  and  moral  nature,  as  worthy  of  acceptation.  The 
Apostles  proof  that  Jesus  will  accept  any  who  accept  this  saying.    343 

DISCOURSE  XVII. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  GROUND  OF  CHRISTIAN  COMFORT  AMD  COURAGE. 

Romans  viii.  28-31. 

That  God  brings  mercies  out  of  apparent  ills— specially  atftested  In 
Christian  experience.  Tour  classes  of  scoffers  at  the  gospel  view 
of  Providence.  The  natural  Saduceeism.  Transcendental  Atheism 
Theological  Scepticism— Sentimental  Scepticism.  The  last,  bad 
taste,  worse  theology  and  still  worse  logic.  Who  mny  apply  the 
comfort — How  determine  whether  we  love  God  ?  '•  The  called.  •" 
The  key  to  the  interpretation  of  this  love — and  also  to  all 
that  follows.  Uelation  of  the  gospel  truths  to  the  emotions. 
Hence  the  error  of  making  the  29th  and  30th  verses  the  battle- 
ground of  controversy.  "The  called"  are  further  assured  by  the 
purpose  of  election.  The  true  end  of  predestination.  Why  all 
real  Christians  must  here  practically  agree.  How  this  doctrine 
meets  all  the  necessities  of  the  human  soul 363- 

DISCOURSE  XVIII. 


THE    GOSPEL    DOCTRINE   OF    IMMORTALITY   CONTRASTED    WITE 
THAT    OF    THE   SCHOOLS. 

II  Timothy  i.  10— I  Cor.  xv.  22,  53,  54, 

Prevalent  mistakes  concerning  what  the  schools  have  taught.  An 
immortality  of  bliss  has  not,  neither  can  be  proved  from  reason 
and  natural  religion.  What  in  f\ict  true  philosophy  does  teach. 
The  gospel  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  alone  solves  the  puzzle  of 
the  schools.  The  gospel  teaching  concerning  "'Life  and  immor- 
tality." The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  essential  to  any  gospel 
faith.    Practical  lessons 383. 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE  XIX. 

THE  GOSPEL  ALARUM, -ITS  IMPORT. 

Ephesians  v.  11. 

PAGS 

Seeming  abruptness  of  the  Apostle — reason  of  it.  The  sieep  and 
death  stupor  the  natural  condition  of  men.  It  is  a  dreamy  sleep. 
The  -waking  from  it  at  death — may  be  conceived  of  from  partial 
awakening  before  death.  The  drunken  sleeper  at  Niagara.  The 
somnambulist  girl.  The  awakening  from  Christ;  who  not  only 
awakes  but  gives  aid.  Ethical  gospsls,  mere  guide-boards,  useless 
to  a  cripple.  Different  methods  in  which  Christ  gives  light.  The  * 
bast-eful  urgency  of  the  gospel  calls ..,.,...  415 


SECTION  VI. 

REDEMPTION  AS  PROCLAIMED  BY  JESUS  ASCENDED;  CONFIRMING 
ALL  THAT  HAD  BEE>f  REVEALED  AT  THE  "SUNDRY  TIMES 
AND  IN  DIVERS  MANNERS." 

DISCOURSE  XX. 

THE    GOSPEL    ADAPTED     TO     THE     CONSCIODS  WANTS   OF   THE 
HUMAN   SOUL;   ITS   ARGUMENTS,   TERMS   AND   AGENCIES.- 

Revelations  xxii.  16-18. 

Whence,  when,  and  what,  this  message.  The  reference  to  the  last  of  tho. 
old  covenants.  Import  of  the  term  "  water  of  life  " — tendency  of  • 
scriptures  to  generalizations — what  the  import  of  the  '^  thirst."  Tol 
be  understood  in  a  general  sense  as  well  as  of  longing  for  salva* 
tion  by  the  special  call  of  the  Spirit.  True  inference  from  th© 
unconscious  prophecies  of  heathenism.  The  vision  of  the  ship  in. 
the  air  by  the  pilgrims.  The  causes  which  develop  a  consciousness 
of  this  thirst.  They  are  natural  and  supernatural.  The  terms  ara? 
''  Freely."  The  agencies  to  bring  thirsty  soyls  to  the  'A'atwr  of 
life— natural  and  supernatural , 431 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  A.  TO  DISCOURSE  IIL 


THE  RECENT  OBJECTIOX  IN  TEIE  CHURCH  OP  SCOTLAND  CONCERN- 
ING  THE  PERPETUAL  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT, 
AND  ITS  SABBATH. 

PAGB 

The  argument  founded  upon  the  views  presented  in  Discourse  VI.,  the 
most  efifective  method.  The  reasoning  against  the  Sabbath 
founded  wholly  upon  insufficient  and  erroneous  views  of  the 
Sinai  covenant.  Errors  of  the  friends  of  truth  in  stating  the 
grounds  for  legislation  to  protect  the  Sabbath 451 


NOTE  B.  TO  DISCOURSE  lY. 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  SCHEME  OF  REDEMPTION. 

The  science  of  Ecclesiology  yet  remains  to  be  developed.  Prejudice 
against  theoretical  reasoning  on  the  subject  not  accordant  with 
the  spirit  and  method  of  scripture.  Relation  of  the  idea  of  the 
Church  to  other  points  of  Theology.  The  relation  of  the  four 
phases  of  Theology. — Papal,  Zuinglian,  Lutheran,  and  Calvinis- 
tic.  The  latter  theory  naturally  points  to  the  central  truth  of 
Ecclesiology  in  the  mode  of  the  divine  purpose  to  save  not  merely 
sinners  individually  but  a  body  of  sinners.  This  peculiarity  of 
the  divine  purpose  must  enter  as  an  clement  into  the  true  defini- 
tion of  the  Church.  The  Church  visible  the  development  of  this 
idea  of  the  purpose  of  God.  This  view  not  exclusive  of  other 
views  of  the  Church.  To  the  Church  directly  as  an  agency  for 
calling  and  training  the  elect  have  been  given  all  the  revelations, 
ordinances,  and  promises,  and  not  to  the  race  at  large  as  such. 
General  results  from  this  view.  The  Church  essentially  one  in 
all  ages.  Proper  definition  of  the  Church.  This  view  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Westminster  Confession.  And  necessary  to  any 
right  understanding  of  what  the  scriptures  teach  of  the  Church. 
The  source  of  all  Church  power  is  Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator. 
The  power  delegated  by  him  is  vested  neither  in  the  people  nor  in 
the  officers,  but  in  the  body  contemplated  as  such.  The  power 
of  rule  is  a  joint  power  to  be  exercised  by  tribunals,  453 

The  distinction  between  the  Civil  power  ordained  of  God,  the  Author 
of  Nature  and  llie  Spiritual  power  ordained  of  Christ  the 
Mediator.  The  distinction,  not  arbitrary  or  incidental,  but  intrin- 
sic and  exclusive  of  the  idea  of  a  concurrent  jurisdiction.     The 


XYI  COXTEN'TS. 

PAQB 

three  functions  to  be  discharged — and  the  three  offices.  The 
government  of  the  Church  is  held  forth  in  scripture  as  bj 
tribunals 466 


NOTE  0.  TO  DISCOURSE  X 


THE  ORDINANCES   OF  PUBLIC  WORSEIIP  AS  SET  FORTH  IN   SCRIP- 
TURE ;  THEIR  RELATION  TO  THE  IDEA  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

"What  arc  the  divinely  appointed  ordinances  of  worship — Rationale 
thereof.  The  distinction  between  the  acts  of  public  worship  and 
any  merely  human  teachings  lies  in  the  relation  of  the  ordinances 
of  worship  to  the  idea  of  the  Church.  Still  more  direct  is  the 
relation  of  the  sacraments  to  the  idea  of  the  Church.  Significance 
and  nature  of  the  sacraments  as  a  means  of  grace 471 


NOTE  D.  TO  DISCOURSE  X. 


THE  RELATION   OF  THE  TEMPORAL  AND  THE  SPIRITUAL  POWERS 
HISTORICALLY  CONSIDERED.     THE  SCOTO-AMERICAN  THEORY. 

Singularly  vague  views  prevalent  on  this  subject.  Conflicts  in  Papal 
countries  between  Cis-Montaniam  and  Ultramontaniam.  Conflicts 
among  the  Continental  Protestants— between  the  theories  of 
Hegel,  Stahl — Schleirmacher,  &c.  In  England  between  the 
theories  of  the  Civil  Courts — Broad  Church — Palmer  and  others. 
In  Scotland  between  various  theories  of  support  from,  and  sub- 
mission to,  the  State  by  the  Church.  In  the  American  Churches 
between  the  Virginia  theory — the  New  England  theory — and  the 
Gallio  theory.     Absurd  ideas  and  representations  of  politicians.  474 

The  theory  of  a  connection  between  the  powers  secular  and  spiritual 
wholly  Pagan  in  its  origin.  History  of  its  first  introduction  into 
Christianity.  How  the  Pagan  view  Avas  maintained  by  the  jurists 
and  civilians.  Why  not  cast  aside  at  the  Reformation.  The 
Scottish  Reformers  had  clear  views  of  the  scripture  doctrine. 
Causes  of  failure.  The  Paganism  of  Vattel.  The  first  develop- 
ment of  the  American  theory.  Logical  fallacies  of  the  New  Eng- 
land theory.  Its  consequences  as  seen  in  originating  heretical 
bodies;  as  seen  in  Justice  Story  and  Mr.  Webster.  The  doctrine 
of  the  memorialists  in  Virginia — Wad  dell,  Graham,  Smith — a 
revival  and  advance  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  Scottish  Reformers. 
The  JefiFerson-Madison  "  Act  establishing  religious  freedom" — 
the  first  recognition,  from  the  civib  side,  in  all  history  of  the 
complete  independence  of  the  "  kingdom  not  of  this  world.". . . .   476 


INTRODUCTORY  DISCOURSE. 


T. 


THE    DIVERSITT    IN     UXTTY     OF     THE     RETELATION     OF 
REDEMPTION. 

Hebrews  i.  1,  2. — God,  "who  at  simdiy  times  and  in  divers  manners  spake 
in  time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken 
unto  us  by  his  Son. 

Hebrews  ii.  1,  3. — Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to 
the  things  -which  we  have  heard,  lest  at  any  time  we  should  let  them  slip. 
For  if  the  word  spoken  by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression 
and  disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of  reward ;  how  shall  we 
escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ? 

It  will  be  perceived  that  these  two  passages,  though  the 
opening  sentences  of  different  chapters,  stand  in  the  close 
logical  relation  to  each  other  of  premise  and  conclusion  ;  the 
intervening  portion  of  the  first  chapter  being  of  the  nature  of 
a  parenthesis.  The  first,  by  way  of  premise,  declares  the  fact 
that,  instead  of  speaking  once  for  all  in  making  his  revelation, 
God  spake  at  "  sundry  times  "  through  his  prophets,  and  at 
last  through  his  Son,  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  Nor  that 
cither  in  any  uniform  mode  of  utterance,  but  "  in  divers 
manners "  through  the  successive  ages :  He  spake  now 
through  the  Theophanics  of  the  Patriarchal  era,  now  through 
the  oraclos  of  the  Theocratic  era,  now  through  the  inspiration 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  the  prophets  of  later  ages,  and  lastly 
through  Jesus  the  Incarnate  Word. 

B 


18  THE    DIVEKSITV    IN"    UXITV   OF    SCRIPTURE. 

From  these  facts  as  a  premise,  Rationalism  argues  to  the 
conclusion  of  the  uncertainties  and  contradictions  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  and  Romanism  to  the  conclusion  of  the  need  of 
excluding  the  people  from  the  free  perusal  thereof,  and  the 
need  of  an  infallible  interpreter,  through  whose  harmonizing 
voice  only  the  speech  of  God  shall  be  spoken  to  the  people. 
But,  you  will  ol^eerve,  the  Apostle,  from  the  same  premise, 
reasons  to  a  precisely  opposite  conclusion  from  both,  viz.,  the 
increased  responsibility  of  those  who  have  the  benefit  of  all 
these  varieties  of  the  revelations  of  God,  and  the  inevitable 
doom  of  those  who  now  neglect  such  advantage. 

The  purpose  of  the  present  discourse  will  be  to  fix  your 
attention  upon  : 

FivHt. — The  significance  of  the  facts  of  the  Apostle's 
premise — the  "sundry  times  and  divers  manners  "  of  reve- 
lation. 

Second. — The  significance  of  the  Apostle's  reasoning  and 
conclusion  from  this  premise. 

I.  The  fact  here  set  forth,  of  God's  revelation  to  men 
through  successive  and  diversified  developments  of  his 
scheme  of  Redemption,  furnishes  a  most  important  key  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  For  their  peculiar  form 
and  structure  arises  chiefly  from  this,  that,  instead  of  a  single 
utterance,  in  systematic  and  scientific  form,  God  chose  to 
speak  "  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners,"  gradually 
developing  more  and  more  clearly  a  scheme  of  salvation, 
ivliieh  IV  as  perfect  from  the  first. 

It  is  the  fundamental  blunder,  alike  of  the  sceptics  and  of 
the  philosophic  theologians,  to  assume  that,  if  God  speak  to 
man,  his  perfections  require  the  utterance  to  be  exclusively 
in  the  terms  of  a  scientific  theology.  Had  he  gathered  the 
more  intelligent  of  the  race  around  some  Horeb  summit,  and 
thence  communicated  his  attributes  and  purposes,  in  the 
style  of  a  "  Code  Napoleon,"  or  of  scientific  papers  before 


SIGNIFICANCE    OF    THE    APOSTLE's    PREMISE.        19 

the  Paris  Academy,  or  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  then 
Avould  the  communication,  they  think,  have  had  an  exactness 
and  a  certitude  more  Avorthy  a  Divine  Author ;  and  then 
Avould  no  room  have  been  left  for  disputes  and  diversities  of 
opinion  in  religion. 

Now  it  might  be  a  sufficient  answer  to  all  such  suggestions 
— What  if  God  hath  chosen  to  reveal  himself  in  his  Word  as 
in  his  Works?  What  if  in  Revelation,  as  in  Nature,  he  hath 
chosen  to  scatter  his  truths  broadcast,  leaving  men  to  gather 
them  Avith  laborious  care,  and  arrange  them  in  their  scientific 
systems?  But  a  little  reflection  must  make  it  plain  that  it 
Avas  for  reasons  in  the  essential  nature  of  the  case,  that  he 
spake  thus  at  "  sundry  times,"  connecting  his  revelation  Avith 
the  progressive  history  of  humanity  through  all  its  varying 
developments. 

What  man  needed  Avas  not  merely  a  revelation  concerning 
the  mysteries  of  God,  but  concerning  the  mysteries  of  his 
own  nature  as  Avell ;  and  the  paradoxes  of  AA^hich  his  soul  is 
full.  Man  needed  a  revelation  AAdiich  should  become  the 
articulate  voice  of  these  mysterious  instincts  of  his  spiritual 
nature.  How  could  such  a  revelation  be  made  in  any  other 
conceivable  method  so  Avell  as  by  this  of  connecting  it  Avith, 
and  developing  it  through,  the  ever  varying  history  of 
humanity,  under  the  leadings  of  his  Providence,  through  all 
its  phases  and  civiHzations  ? 

Accordingly,  you  find  this  revelation  a  record,  not  merely 
of  the  utterances  of  God  speaking  from  heaven  to  men,  but 
of  the  utterances,  also,  of  the  human  soul  ansAvering  back 
from  earth  to  the  voice  of  God.  That  answer  is  noAV  in  cries 
of  mysterious  terror,  noAV  in  shouts  of  defiant  impenitency, 
now  in  penitential  Availings,  noAv  in  the  joyous  cries  of  child- 
like faith  and  trust.  The  Bible  is  not  a  Divine  monologue  ; 
it  is  an  amazing  dialogue  of  the  ages,  betAveen  earth  and 
heaven.     The  gospel  which  it  reveals  is  not  a  mere  melody 


20         THE    DIVERSITY    IN    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

of  "  Peace  on  earth  "  sung  by  angel  voices  ;  it  is  the  strain 
of  a  mighty  orchestra  rather.  Notes  from  the  stricken  chords 
of  the  heart  of  God  lead  the  strain,  and  notes  from  all  the 
stricken  chords  of  the  human  soul  answer  back  in  responsive 
chorus. 

As  already  suggested,  the  Bible  method  consists  in  the 
development  more  and  more  fully,  through  the  successive 
^'  sundry  times  "  of  humanity,  of  a  scheme  of  salvation  which 
was  perfect  from  the  first,  though  revealed  only  in  germ. 
Men  build  their  systems  of  knowledge  as  they  build  their 
houses  ;  beam  is  laid  upon  beam ;  nor  does  the  structure 
really  exist,  as  a  structure,  until  the  last  fragment  has  been 
adjusted  to  its  place.  Hence  their  proneness  to  regard  a 
theology  as  imperfect,  which  is  not  thus  artificially  si/8temized. 
But  when  God  constructs  a  theology,  he  builds,  just  as  he 
builds  the  oak  of  the  forest,  or  the  cedar  of  Lebanon,  by  the 
continual  development  of  a  germ,  perfect  from  the  first, 
through  the  successive  "sundry  times"  of  the  humanity 
with  whose  origin  the  development  began. 

As  the  oak,  perfect  and  entire,  is  in  the  acorn  that  buries 
itself  in  the  soil,  and  expands  and  extends  an  ever  perfect 
life  till  it  becomes  the  gigantic  monarch  of  the  forest ;  so  the 
entire  gospel  of  redemption  was  in  that  germinal  promise 
concerning  "the  seed  of  the  woman"  which,  buried  in  the 
clods  of  a  wasted  Eden,  shot  forth  its  life  parallel  with  the 
growth  of  humanity.  Now  it  appears  as  the  tender  twig  of 
promise  to  Enoch  and  Noah  ;  now  the  vigorous  sapling  to  the 
faith  of  Abraham ;  now  the  refreshing  shade  tree  leafing 
out  in  the  gorgeous  ritual  of  Moses ;  now  the  well-known 
pilot's  signal  tree  that  guides  the  course  of  David  and  Isaiah  ; 
now  putting  forth  its  blossom  of  plenteous  promise  in  the 
Gospel  of  John  the  Baptist ;  and  now  bearing  the  rich  har- 
vest of  ripe  fruit  in  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  under  "  the 
ministration  of  the  Spirit."     Thus  through  all  the  ages,  and 


FALLACIES    OF    THE    RATIONALISTS.  21 

in  all  tlic  divers  manners  of  its  communication,  it  is  one  and 
the  same  Gospel,  embodying  the  same  great  truths  in  its 
various  stages  of  development. 

To  the  cant  of  Rationalism  concerning  the  narrower,  less 
enlightened  and  legendary  system  of  religion  which  2>^eceded 
the  Christian  gospel,  our  response  is,  therefore,  Christianity 
had  no  predecessor.  In  a  sense  that  the  English  deist  Tindal 
never  conceived  of,  "  Chrutianity  is  old  as  Creation^ 
The  Bible  is  the  history  and  development  of  Christianity,  and 
nothing  else.  It  is  "  the  Gospel  according  to  "  Moses  and 
David,  Isaiah  and  Daniel,  just  as  truly  as  it  is  the  Gospel 
according  to  Matthew  and  Mark  and  Luke  and  John.  And 
this  is  manifest  from  the  unity  of  idea  that  underlies  all  "  the 
divers  manners"  of  the  revelation.  For  of  all  the  books  in 
the  world,  the  Bible  is  emphatically  the  "  book  of  one  idea." 
That  idea  is  the  grand  enterprise  of  "  the  seed  of  the 
woman"  in  conflict  with  the  Serpent  and  his  seed,  gathering 
his  elect  body,  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb,  out  of  all  the  succes- 
sive ages.  It  is  this  Redeemer,  Jehovah  Jesus,  who,  assuming 
transiently  the  shadowy  form  of  humanity,  speaks  Avith  Adam 
and  Abraham,  and  Jacob  and  Joshua.  It  is  Jehovah  Jesus 
who  sits  between  the  Cherubim  as  the  Theocratic  king  of  Israel. 
It  is  '^  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  them  "  that  utters  through  the 
prophets  "  the  sulferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  which  should 
follow."  In  these  cases,  just  as  truly  is  it  the  record  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  when  it  is  the  story  of  his  walking  on  earth  as 
"  the  Son  of  man"  or  of  his  communicating;  his  will  throu^^h 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  his  Apostles  after  his  ascension. 

Not  only  is  this  Great  Personage  the  subject  of  all  the 
revelation  alike,  but  the  fundamental  articles  of  its  theology, 
even  to  the  detailed  forms  of  their  expression,  are  one  and  the 
same  from  first  to  last.  The  wrath  of  God  appeased,  and  sin 
pardoned  by  vicarious  blood,  is  the  theology  of  Adam,  Abel, 
and  Noah.  Vicarious  blood  shed  for  sin,  is  the  central  thought 


22         THE    DIVERSITY    IN    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

of  the  theology  of  Abraham  and  Moses,  of  David  and  Isaiah, 
just  as  truly  as  in  that  of  Peter  and  John  and  Paul,  who 
declare  "  In  him  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood  ;  " 
and  "  His  blood  cleansethfrom  all  sin."  So  the  central  idea 
of  the  worship  which  embodies  this  theology  in  ritual  form.  In 
the  worship  of  Abel  the  sacrificial  lamh  was  the  peculiar 
feature.  In  the  worship  of  Abraham,  two  thousand  years  later, 
it  is  still  the  lamb  substituted  for  the  lamb  of  his  own  bosom. 
In  the  worship  of  Moses  four  hundred  years  later,  it  is  still 
the  lamb  Y>'hose  blood  is  sprinkled,  and  which  figures  in  the 
gorgeous  ritual  of  the  tabernacle.  Seven  hundred  years 
later,  in  the  visions  of  Isaiah,  it  is  still  the  "  Lamb  led  to  the 
slaughter."  Again,  seven  hundred  years,  and  John  the  Bap- 
tist, pointing  to  Jesus  the  ante-type  of  all  the  preceding  types, 
cries  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins 
of  the  world,"  and,  at  the  close  of  the  revelation,  as  John  the 
Evangelist  is  permitted  through  "  the  door  opened  in  heaven" 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  glorious  Church  of  the  future,  the 
worship  has  still  the  same  central  attraction — "  the  Lamb  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne  ;"  around  whom  are  gathered  the 
shouting  myriads  who  have  "  washed  their  robes  and  made 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 

And,  as  tlie  objective  theology  of  the  "  sundry  times," 
even  to  its  forms  of  expression,  is  still  the  same,  so  also  is 
the  expression  of  the  subjective  faith  which  apprehends  it. 
The  only  reliance  of  the  saints  is  upon  the  vicarious  blood ; 
and  upon  the  promise  "  When  I  see  the  blood  I  will  pass 
over."  And  with  this  rehance  for  the  soul's  refreshment, 
and  for  "  peace  and  joy  in  believing,"  the  very  forms  of  the 
experimental  utterances  of  the  soul  are  the  same  in  all  ages. 
With  David  the  cry  is  "  my  soul  tJdrsteth  for  God,  as  the 
hart  pauteth  after  the  water  brooks."  And  Isaiah  proclaims  to 
such — "  IIo  everyone  that  tJdrsteth  come  ye  to  the  waters." 
Just  so  the  Son  of  God  incarnate,  standing  in  the  temple  on 


FALLACIES    OF    THE    liATIOXALLSTS.  23 

the  great  day  of  the  feast,  proclaims,  "  If  any  man  tlurHt  let 
him  comemito  me  and  drink."  And  so  again,  as  the  Son  of 
God  ascended,  Jesus  sends  back  from  his  throne  his  last 
message  to  the  sinners,  for  whom  he  had  "  endured  the 
cross,  despising  the  shame,"  "  Let  him  that  is  athirst  come, 
and  whosoever  will  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

But  what  leaves  the  charge  of  contradiction  between  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testament  scriptures  without  apology,  even 
on  the  part  of  those  who  cannot  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  ob- 
jective theology  of  the  Bible,  or  into  the  subjective  experience 
of  the  saints,  is  the  fact  of  the  substantial  identity,  amid  all 
the  diversity,  of  even  the  externals  of  this  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion revealed  at  the  "  sundry  times." 

It  cannot  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  reader  of  this 
book,  that  the  mode  of  its  revelation  is  through  a  series  of 
covenants,  each  one  a  larger  development  of  that  which  ])rc- 
cedes  it.  These  covenants  imply  the  idea  of  a  distinct  body 
of  people  with  whom  the  covenant  or  contract  is  made.  The 
entire  revelation  may  be  analyzed,  as  consisting  of  three 
classes  of  truths  : — First,  the  record  of  historic  events  which 
prepared  the  way  for  certain  covenants:  next,  the  covenant 
and  revelation  connected  with  it ;  and  next  the  history  and 
revelations  connected  with  the  development  of  that  cove- 
nant. The  story  of  creation  and  of  Eden  prepares  the  way 
for  the  covenant  of  grace  with  Adam  ;  the  history  developing 
this,  prepares  again  the  way  for  the  covenant  of  protection 
to  the  race  made  with  Noah.  Then,  under  this  covenant, 
begins  the  history  preparatory  to  the  Church  covenant  with 
Abraham,  the  history  of  Avhose  development  prepares  the  way 
for  the  Passover  covenant  to  redeem  the  Church,  and  that  again 
for  the  Sinai  covenant ;  then  the  history  of  the  development 
of  this  Church,  as  Jehovah's  spiritual  common wealtli,  prepares 
the  way  for  the  covenant  with  David,  establishing  the  typical 
throne  and  kin^iidom  of  Messiah  in  the  Church.     From  this 


24         THE    DIVERSITY    IN    UNITY    OF    SCllIPTURE. 

time  forward  all  the  history  and  revelations  through  the  pro- 
phets are  to  the  end  of  preparing  the  way  of  the  Lord's 
coming,  as  the  king  of  a  universal  kingdom ;  and  for  the  new 
covenant  in  his  blood,  under  which  his  commissioned  agents 
shall  "  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature." 

And  what  is  specially  noteworthy,  as  indicating  the  unity 
existing  under  the  ^'  divers  manners  "  of  this  covenant  body, 
is  the  sameness  of  its  administrations  under  all  the  changes. 
The  patriarchs,  or  natural  elders  of  the  church,  while  it  was 
still  embosomed  in  the  family  constitution,  are  succeeded  by 
the  official  "  elders "  when  the  shortening  of  human  life 
makes  it  necessary  to  choose  among  many  patriarchs.  And 
such  continued  to  be  the  form  of  administration  of  the  visible 
church  in  all  succeeding  ages.  Before  the  national  organi- 
zation under  Moses,  the  elders  were  in  charge  of  the  cove- 
nant people,  to  receive  and  decide  upon  the  genuineness  of 
Moses'  call  from  God  (Ex.  iii.  15,  and  iv.  29)  ;  through 
the  elders  was  received  the  covenant  seal  of  the  passover 
(Ex.  xii.  3,  21)  ;  and  through  them  was  preparation  made 
for  receiving  the  law ;  and  through  them  again  was  nego- 
tiated the  Sinai  Covenant  (Ex.  xix.  7,  8,  and  xxiv.  7,  8). 
Before  the  elders  was  the  typical  rock  smitten  (Ex.  xvii. 
3,  Q)  ;  and  the  elders  partook  of  the  sacrificial  feast  pre- 
paratory to  receiving  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  and 
ritual  (Ex.  xxiv.  9,  11).  The  elders  with  the  priests  con- 
stituted the  supreme  ecclesiastical  court  to  decide  appeals 
under  the  instruction  of  the  oracle  (Deut.  xvii.  9,  12). 
The  elders  are  found,  even  during  the  apostasy,  sitting  in 
council  with  Elisha  (II  Kings,  vi.  32)  ;  in  the  exile  with 
Ezekiel  (Ezek.  viii.  1)  ;  and,  in  apostate  Jerusalem,  sat 
with  the  priests  upon  the  case  of  Jeremiah  (Jer.  xxvi.  8, 
17).  So  when  Messiah  "  came  unto  his  own,  and  his  own 
received  him  not,"  his  rejection  was  by  the  priests  and  ciders 


FALLACIES    OF    THE    RATIONALISTS.  25 

in  council,  of  an  apostate  church  (Math.  xxiv.  1).  Under 
the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  the  ciders  still  sit  in  council 
with  x\postlcs  (Acts  XV.  23).  And  in  that  glorious  vision 
of  the  church  of  the  future,  through  the  door  opened  in 
heaven,  John  saw  the  great  congregation,  represented  by  the 
"  four  and  twenty  elders,"  twelve  for  the  Old,  and  twelve  for 
the  New  Testament  Church,  acting  together,  casting  their 
crowns — the  symbols  of  their  official  authority — at  the  feet 
of  the  great  king  (Rev.  iv.  4). 

This,  then,  is  our  short  method  with  the  treacherous  Ration- 
alism which  would  persuade  us  to  cast  aside  what  "  God  at 
sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners  spake  to  the  fathers," 
anterior  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of  man,  as  no 
gospel  for  us.  We  answer,  it  is  all  gospel  ;  one  gospel ;  and 
the  same  gospel ;  not  only  in  its  creed,  but  in  the  details  and 
results  of  that  creed  when  accepted.  It  must  therefore  stand 
in  its  complete  integrity  or  not  stand  at  all.  If  one  part  is 
not  divine,  no  part  is  divine.  If  Moses  and  the  prophets  are 
not  divine  utterances,  then  neither  can  Jesus  and  the  apostles 
be,  who  claim  to  be  simply  the  full  development  of  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  and  fully  endorse  them.  And,  therefore, 
this  pretence  of  receiving  Jesus  as  history,  while  rejecting 
Moses  as  legend,  is  founded  either  upon  an  ignorance  that 
has  never  grasped  the  idea  of  him  whom  it  so  dogmatically 
pronounces  upon,  or  upon  a  hypocritical  hifidelity, — that  by 
gradual  and  insidious  approaches,  would  undermine  the  foun- 
dations of  our  faith. 

()n  the  other  hand,  the  view  here  taken  furnishes  an  equally 
short  method  with  the  Romanism  that  harps  upon  the  diver- 
sities of  revelation  as  creating  a  necessity  for  an  infallible 
interpreter,  and  the  exclusion  of  the  people  from  the  free  use 
of  the  scriptures.  What  the  people  need  is  not  an  infallible 
interpreter  of  scripture,  but  simply  to  be  shown  how  to  read 
the  scriptures,  thus  given  at  the  "  sundry  times,"  and  the 


26         THE    DIVERSITY    IN    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

divers  manners  of  several  successive  forms  of  civilization  and 
thought  and  speech.  Properly  instructed  as  to  these  inci- 
dental questions,  and  having  the  scriptures  translated  into 
their  fashion  of  thought,  the  people  can  far  more  readily 
interpret  the  scriptures  for  themselves  than  interpret  the 
infallible  interpreter. 

It  is  indeed  true,  that  the  rule  of  faith  being  of  ''  divers 
manners"  of  expression  will  lead  to  corresponding  diverse 
opinions  in  incidentals  and  non-essentials,  according  as  more 
or  less  stress  is  laid  upon  this  or  that  manner  of  utter- 
ance of  the  same  truth.  In  this  sense  it  may  produce 
sectarianism.  But,  in  this  sense,  sectarianism  is  obviously 
pre-supposed  by  the  gospel,  and  implied  in  the  very  nature 
of  Christianity.  Yet  this  diversity  by  no  means  mars  the 
essential  unity  of  the  Church  of  God.  It  is  rather  a  neces- 
sity to  the  completeness  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  as  the 
visible  embodiment  of  such  a  gospel.  Just  as  we  have  four 
biographies  of  Jesus  in  the  Evangelists,  and  yet  all  of  them 
one  life  so  thoroughly,  that  neither  of  the  four  is  the  life  of 
Jesus  without  the  other  three.  Just  as  we  find  the  harmo- 
nists of  the  gospels  labouring  to  make  the  four  one,  and  yet 
each  successive  harmonist  begins  his  work  by  shewing  that 
all  his  predecessors  have  failed  in  some  important  particular. 
So  with  the  Church  of  God,  founded  upon  these  Evangelists  ;  it 
is  manifold,  yet  one.  And  so  with  these  perpetual  endeavours 
to  fashion  the  Church  into  one  invariable  form  in  all  the 
details  of  its  liturgy  and  expression  of  faith. 

Hence,  long  before  the  controversy  with  Piotestantism 
concerning  sects,  and  the  need  of  an  infallible  interpreter, 
the  children  of  the  Church  of  Rome  herself  loved  to  find  the 
symbols  of  a  church  manifold,  yet  one,  in  the  four  rivers, 
flowing  from  one  fount  in  Paradise  ;  and,  in  the  four-fold,  yet 
one,  living  creature  seen  in  the  visions  of  Ezekiel  and  Daniel 
and  John  in  the  Apocalypse.     Long  before  the  apostasy  of 


FALSE    VIEWS    OF    CllUKCll    DIVERSITIES.  27 

Rome,  Jerome  had  said  :  "As  the  one  river  of  Paradise 
divided  into  four  streams,  so  the  gospel  doctrine  of  Christ 
Jesus  distributes  itself  through  the  channel  of  four  different 
ministers,  to  water  and  fructify  the  garden  of  God."  Even 
in  the  "  dark  ages,"  as  long  ago  as  A.D.  1172,  Adam,  of 
St.  Victor,  the  great  hjmnologist,  taught  the  Latin  Church  to 
sing: 

"Circa  throniim  majestatis, 
Cum  spiritibus  beatis, 
Quatuor  divcrsitatis 
Adstant  aoimalia. 


Pormae  fonnant  fignrarum 
Formas  cvangelistarum, 
Quorum  imber  doctrinarom 
Stillat  in  ccclesia." 

Of  which — ^though  rudely  and  feebly  rendered — the  sense 
and  spirit  is, — 

"  Before  the  throne  of  majesty, 
With  spirits  blessed  beyond  the  sky, 
The  four-fold  creature^  stood. 


Strange  mystic  figure  !  four  in  one  ! 
Of  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  and  John, 
Who  jointly  shed  their  dews  upon 
The  blessed  Church  of  God." 

If  the  unity  of  the  rule  of  faith  is  not  marred  by  reason  of 
the  "  divers  manners  "  of  its  utterances,  why  may  not  the 
Church,  founded  upon  such  a  rule  of  faith^  be  one  in  reahty,, 
notwithstanding  it  may  exhibit  diversity  in  the  manner  of 
uttering  its  faith  and  worship  ? 

I  may  add,  moreover,  that  even  though  there  were  no  such 
diversity  in  the  rule  of  faith,  yet  from  the  ''  divers  manners" 


.28         THE    DIVERSITY    IX    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

of  the  humanity  upon  which  its  truths  operate,  to  be  reflected 
back  in  a  subjective  theology,  the  reflection  must  naturally 
exhibit  these  diversities  of  religious  views.  It  is  one  of  the 
fine  analogies  of  Edmund  Burke,  that  "  the  metaphysical 
rights  of  man,  coming  into  contact  with  the  actual  life  of 
society,  are,  as  the  rays  of  light  passing  from  a  rarer  into  a 
denser  medium,  refracted  out  of  a  straight  line."  Shghtly 
modifying  the  great  orator's  figure,  I  may  say  that  the  beams 
of  light  from  the  divine  oracles,  falling  as  they  do  upon 
humanity,  as  upon  a  prism,  are  not  only  refracted  in  the 
subjective  theology  of  Christian  experience,  but  their  colours 
separated  to  the  view  of  the  beholder,  as  in  the  spectrum ; 
shewing  here  the  Presbyterian  Hue — here  the  Episcopal 
orange — here  the  Methodist  red — and  so  through  all  the 
seven  colours  of  which  the  pure  white  light  is  composed. 
And  so,  reversing  the  process,  when  the  separating  causes 
are  counteracted  by  some  common  devotional  movement 
that  brings  them  to  pray  and  praise  together,  all  the 
colours  are  combined  again,  as  they  commune  with  God,  and 
they  reflect  the  one  pure  white  light,  as  it  fell  upon  the 
prism. 

This  unity  of  spirit,  in  devotion  and  communion  w^th  God, 
is  that  unity  to  wliich  the  Apostles  exhort ;  this  is  the  unity 
which  fulfils  the  Master's  intercessory  prayer  "  that  they 
all  may  be  one."  And  this  spiritual  unity  is  far  more  real 
and  true  than  the  boasted  unity  of  Rome,  depending  not  on 
spiritual  attraction,  but  a  mere  external  power  of  government 
under  one  head,  making  the  several  fragments'  artificially 
cohere  together.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  this  unity  of  spirit 
is  the  true  unity  as  against  the  latitudinarian  sentimentalism 
which,  in  our  day,  affects  to  long  for  the  abolition  of  sects 
4ind  creeds,  and  would  merge  all  into  one,  by  utterly  ignoring 
the  doctrine  of  a  church  as  one  of  the  essential  elements  of 
the  gospel;  and  by  making  light  of  Christ's  appointed  order 


FALSE    VIEWS    OF    CHURCH    DIVERSITIES.  29 

and  ordinances  for  his  spiritual  commonwealth.  The  marvel- 
lous unity  of  doctrine  evinced  by  the  various  confessions  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  is  the  true  secret  of  the  unity  of  spirit 
in  devotion  among  Christians  of  these  various  churches  ;  it  is 
not  merely  sentimental.  Discerning  the  image  of  Christ  in. 
each  other,  they  learn  to  recognize  each  other  as  brethren ; 
and  the  very  zeal  for  maintaining  Christ's  order  and  ordi- 
nances as  each  understands  them,  is  only  a  guarantee, 
each  to  the  other,  of  a  common  zeal  for  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints. 

II.  Having  considered  the  Apostle's  premise,  it  now 
remains  that  -we  consider,  very  briefly,  the  significancy  of 
the  Apostle's  reasoning  and  conclusion  from  the  premise  of 
a  revelation  "  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners."  He 
argues,  "  Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed, 
etc.,  for  if  the  word  spoken  by  angels  was  steadfast,  how 
shall  w^e  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?" 

You  will  observe  that  this  argument  is  a  compound  syllo- 
gism, which  may  be  resolved  into  these  two  : 

1st.  Impenitency  under  the  fuller  light  of  a  completed 
revelation  involves  greater  guilt  than  under  a  revelation 
incomplete. 

But,  since  Christ's  advent  under  the  ministration  of  the 
Spirit,  we  have  the  revelation,  begun  in  earlier  ages,  fully 
and  completely  developed. 

Therefore,  the  guilt  of  impenitency  is  greater  now  than, 
ever  before. 

2nd.  The  certainty  of  judgment  without  mercy  is  greater, 
in  proportion  to  the  greater  guilt  of  neglecting  clearer  light. 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  even  under  the  inferior  light 
of  a  partially  developed  gospel,  ''Every  transgression  and 
disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of  reward." 

Tlierefore,  more  certain  and  inevitable  must  be  the 
doom  of  such  as  now  reject  the  great  and  fully  developed 
salvation. 


30         THE    DIVERSITY   IN    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Thus  the  power  of  the  two  arguments  is  made  to  converge 
upon  the  one  tremendous  conclusion  of  the  inevitable  doom 
of  transgressors,  under  the  last  dispensation  of  the  gospel. 

To  comprehend  fullj  the  force  of  the  argument,  Ave  need 
only  inquire, — with  whom  precisely  is  the  Apostle  here  rea- 
soning ?  and  what  does  he  assume  concerning  them  ? 

Observe  then,  that  he  is  not  reasoning  with  sceptics  who 
either  deny  any  inspiration,  or  w^ho  conceive  of  faith  as 
merely  a  submission  to  the  overwhelming  power  of  proofs 
addi^essed  to  the  understanding,  or  under  the  crushing  power 
of  difficulties  which  the  mind  cannot  master.  So,  indeed, 
many  conceive  of  the  gospel  salvation  ;  they  regard  it  as 
something  bestowed  in  the  way  of  reward  to  the  logical  and 
the  learned  minds,  in  consideration  of  their  toil  in  working 
out  demonstrations  of  the  gospel  ;  or,  in  the  case  of  the 
unlearned,  something  bestowed  as  a  reward  for  the  credulity 
which  can  accept  without  question  impossible  truths.  They 
imagine  that  the  only  reason  why  they  are  not  Christians  is 
simply  from  want  of  ability  to  force  their  minds  into  the  belief 
of  the  gospel,  or  Avant  of  time  to  examine  its  evidences. 
They  have  the  misfortune  to  be  gifted  A\ith  such  an  astute- 
ness of  logical  perception,  or  such  a  capacity  of  intellect, 
that  the  loose  reasoning  Avhich  satisfied  a  Bacon,  or  a  NcAvton, 
or  a  Locke,  cannot  satisfy  them.  But  they  Intend,  at  a 
leisure  time,  to  gather  up  all  the  books  on  the  evidences,  and 
demonstrate  themseves  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Mean- 
while, they  appear  to  themselves  to  be  sincerely  longing  after 
that  simple,  uninquiring  faith,  Avhich  they  think  is  the  pecu- 
liar privilege  of  the  unlearned  masses. 

Not  with  such  is  the  Apostle  reasoning ;  for  then  the 
argument  Avould  be,  "  God  at  sundry  times  hath  piled  argu- 
ment upon  argument,  and  in  divers  manners  hath  pre- 
sented the  argument,  until  nothing  more  could  be  added  to 
its  force;  therefore,  how  shall  Ave  be  converted  if  not  by 


SIGNIFICANCE   OF   THE    APOSTLE'S   REASONING.     31 

this  ?"  That  would,  indeed,  be  a  true  statement,  and  sound 
reasoning,  but  it  is  not  the  argument  here.  It  is  directed 
not  to  those  who  reject^  but  to  those  who  '''' neglecV  salva- 
tion. 

Nor,  again,  is  the  reasoning  with  that  class  who,  though 
not  unbelievers,  as  they  think,  yet  find  their  chief  reason  for 
not  being  Christians  in  the  difficulties  of  the  gospel  doctrines, 
which  they  cannot  reconcile  with  their  reason.  There  are 
many  of  our  educated^  youth  and  professional  men  to  Avhom 
the  gospel  presents  the  aspect  of  the  Sphinx  of  the  old 
tragedy,  sitting  by  the  wayside  to  propound  the  riddle,  and 
demanding  of  each  passer-by  "  Solve  it  or  die  !"  Whereas, 
it  is  the  peculiar  feature  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  that  it 
demands  neither  the  solution  of  paradoxes,  nor  even  the 
acceptance  of  opinions,  as  a  condition  precedent  to  salvation. 
Its  call  is  not  "  solve  or  die,"  but  "  believe  with  thine  heart 
or  die."  Not  believe  a  creed,  either,  but  "  believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  a  personal  Saviour.  Not  with  such  is 
the  reasoning  here.  For  then  the  argument  Avould  be, 
God  hath  at  "  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners"  added 
explanation  to  explanation,  and  solved  difficulty  after  difficulty, 
till  no  longer  is  it  conceivable  how  any  sincere  mind  can 
cavil ;  therefore,  if  still  in  the  dark, — how  shall  we  ever  have 
the  mystery  solved  ?  That  would  be  valid  reasoning,  but  it 
is  not  the  argument  here.  He  reasons  not  with  those  who 
mystify^  but  those  who  "  neglecV  salvation. 

Nor,  again,  is  the  reasoning  here  with  the  careless  and  pro- 
fane scoffers,  who  say,  "  let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow 
we  die  ;"  nor  with  the  frivolous  devotees  of  fashion  and  the 
world,  whenever  care  to  listen  to  the  higlier  calls  of  the  soul; 
nor  with  the  servile  worshippers  of  Mammon,  who  recklessly 
take  the  dollar  in  exchange  for  the  soul.  For  then  the  rea- 
soning would  be — God  hath  so  highly  regarded  this  work  of 
saving  sinners,  that,  amid  all  the  cares  of  the  Universe,  he 


OZ         THE    DIVERSITY    IN    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

hath  "at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners"  manifested 
special  concern,  and  sent  down  the  chariot  of  heaven  to  bear 
communication  to  earth  respecting  it.  If  then  ye  are  careless, 
frivolous  and  reckless  in  a  matter  that  has  interested  all  heaven 
during  ages  past,  what  hope  is  there  for  j^ou?  IIow  can  such 
as  ye  escape  ?  That  would  be  valid  reasoning,  but  it  is  not 
the  argument  here.  He  reasons  not  with  those  that  insult 
and  contemn^  but  those  that  "  neglect "  salvation. 

But  the  parties  addressed  in  the  argument  of  the  text  are 
those  of  whom  it  is  assumed. 

First, — That  "  they  have  heard  these  things  "  and  recognize 
them  as  things  spoken  by  God's  angels  (messengers).  In  so 
far,  they  are  those  found  in  all  our  Sabbath  congregations,  who 
treat  the  gospel  with  great  outward  respect,  and  even  thank 
God  that  they  are  not  as  other  men — even  as  these  sceptics, 
scoffers,  frivolous  and  thoughtless. 

Second, — That  they  have  not  only  the  objective  knowledge 
of  the  gospel,  but  also  a  subjective  consciousness  of  a  danger 
to  be  "  escaped,"  and  a  ruin  from  which  the  rescue  must  be 
a  "  great  salvation."  It  is  indeed  a  striking  feature  of  the 
gospel  that  it  assumes,  as  truths  known  to  human  conscious- 
ness, most  of  these  things  which  men  speculate  about  as 
religious  opinions.  It  makes  no  argument  to  prove  immor- 
tality to  him  who  is  ambitious  to  prove  himself  an  ox  or  an 
ass,  or  as  any  of  "  the  brutes  that  perish."  It  assumes  not 
only  the  conviction  of  immortality  in  every  soul,  but,  as  con- 
nected with  that,  the  conviction  of  a  condition  of  present 
moral  ruin,  and  of  a  wrath  to  come.  These  are  instincts  with 
which  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  is  assumed  in  the  gospel 
to  have  been  originally  endowed. 

As  in  the  realms  of  animated  nature,  the  creatures  seem, 
by  some  mysterious  law,  to  be  endowed  with  instincts,  whose 
blind  impulses  prove  more  watchful  guardians  of  their  safety 
than  the  proud  intelligence  of  man  ;  so  that  the  wild  scream 


FORCE    AXD    SOLEMXITY    OF    IllS    CONCLUSION.     33 

of  the  sea-bird  is  often  tlie  -first  warning  of  the  coming  tem- 
pest, even  when  the  most  experienced  mariner  can  discover 
no  "  cloud  big  as  a  man's  hand"  :  so  the  soul  of  man  seems 
to  be  endowed  with  certain  spiritual  instincts, — blind  impulses, 
it  may  be, — ^but  efficient  to  warn  him  of  wTath  to  come.  And 
even  when  the  voyage  of  life  is  happiest,  its  sea  calmest,  and 
its  sun  brightest — amid  your  shouts  of  joy  and  songs  of  glad- 
ness, there  would  bo  heard,  if  you  listened  for  it,  the  low  soul- 
wail  of  a  coming  storm  of  retribution,  through  which  none  but 
the  Great  Captain  of  our  salvation  can  pilot  us  in  safety. 

Third, — It  is  assumed  that  those  here  addressed  have  had, 
in  addition  to  this  objective  knowledge  and  subjective  convic- 
tion, some  practical  development  and  confirmation  of  both, 
in  the  great  facts  of  God's  providential  history,  showing  that 
every  transgression  and  disobedience  has  actually  received  a 
just  recompense.  It  is,  in  fact,  to  this  end  that  the  record 
has  been  made  by  holy  men  of  old. 

Fourth, — It  is  assumed,  however,  that,  with  all  this,  the 
men  who  enjoy  such  light  may  yet  neglect  it,  and  through 
neglect  ^ms/i ;  "  seeing  they  may  see  and  not  perceive  that 
God  shall  save  them."  Saddest  of  all  truths  concerning  man 
the  creature  ever  boasting  of  his  powers  of  reason  ! 

Now  may  we  see  the  force  of  the  Apostle's  argument  to 
the  conclusion  of  the  inevitable  doom  of  all  that  neglect  sal- 
vation. For  the  greatness  of  this  salvation  is  of  that  very 
sort,  that  the  neglect  of  it  logically  necessitates  damnation. 
If  God  hath,  as  it  were,  exhausted  all  his  infinite  resources, 
and  infinitely  surpassed  all  your  own  conceptions  ;  if  he 
hath  carried  on  an  argument  through  four  thousand  years, 
gradually  cumulating  to  its  full  completion,  and  now,  in  His 
Providence,  hath  placed  you  upon  the  very  apex  of  the  infinite 
demonstration  ;  if,  in  the  way  of  argument,  he  hath  given 
every  conceivable  exposition ;  if,  in  the  w^ay  of  persuasion,  he 
hath  used  every  conceivable  appeal  of  tenderness  and  love  ; 


34  THE    DIVERSITY    IN    UNITY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

if,  in  the  way  of  warning  and  alarm,  he  hath  arrayed  before 
YOU  every  conceivable  terror  among  the  recompenses  of 
reward  to  transgressors — then  what  more  is  there  to  wait  for  ? 
what  more  to  hope  for  ?  how  can  he  possibly  escape  who 
neglects  so  great  salvation  ?  The  very  method  of  his  reve- 
lation, "at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners,"  leaves  you 
without  one  plea  for  neglecting  it,  or  from  putting  off  from 
you  its  calls,  a  moment  longer.  Bo  you  plead  that  you  have 
yet  doubts  as  to  the  certainty  and  reality  of  these  things  ? 
That  plea  might  have  had  some  plausibility  in  the  case  of  those 
to  whom  Noah  preached  righteousness  ;  for  then  the  salva- 
tion was  but  dimly  revealed.  But  even  their  transgressions 
received  a  just  recompense  of  rcAvard  !  How  then  can  you 
escape  ?  Bo  you  plead  that  you  desire  to  believe,  but  this 
gospel  is  full  of  doctrines  hard  to  be  understood  ?  That  plea 
had  some  plausibihty  as  urged  by  those  to  whom  Ezekiel  and 
Jeremiah  preached,  when  these  cavillers  urged  that  their 
sufferings,  intended  to  bring  them  to  repentance,  were  not 
for  their  own  sins,  but  because  ''  the  fathers  had  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge."  For  still 
the  revelation  of  redemption  was  comparatively  dim  and 
mysterious.  But  even  they,  for  their  transgressions  received 
a  just  recompense  of  reward,  under  the  law  "  the  soul  that 
sinneth  it  shall  die."  How  then  can  you  escape  on  such  a 
plea  ?  Bo  you  still  urge  that,  though  you  can  accept  all  the 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  as  a  theology,  still  somehow  it  seems 
not  to  apply  practically  to  your  case  ?  That  plea  would  have 
had  great  plausibility,  if  God  had  spoken,  as  the  sceptical 
men  of  science  would  have  him  speak,  by  but  one  utterance 
of  the  abstract  truths  of  his  gospel  in  scientific  form.  For  it  is 
easily  conceivable  that,  in  such  a  case,  many  a  poor  sinner 
would  have  had  trouble  in  applying  the  abstract  truths  to  the 
multitudinous  forms  of  the  soul  trouble.  But  God  "  spake  at 
sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners,"  connecting  the  revela- 


FORCE    AND    SOLEMNITY    OF    HIS    CONCLUSION.     o5 

tion  of  His  plan  of  mercy  with  all  the  practical  diversities  of 
human  character  and  condition,  for  four  thousand  years :  and 
among  all  the  multitudes  of  sinners  saved,  and  of  cases  put 
on  record,  some  one  must  surely  be  parallel  with  yours  :  at 
least  so  nearly  parallel  as  to  furnish  you  with  a  precedent. 
Do  you  plead,  "  but  I  am  so  great  a  sinner,  and  have  neglected 
the  great  salvation  so  long?"  That  plea  might  have  had  some 
plausibility  when  sinners  under  the  law  heard  Isaiah  preach 
''your  hands  are  full  of  blood."  But  even  Isaiah  said  to  them 
— ''  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  never  mind  ;  come  on, — 
and  they  shall  be  made  as  snow  ;  though  you  are  spiritually 
bankrupt — never  mind  ;  Ho  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come 
ye  to  the  waters  ;  and  he  that  hath  no  money,  come  ye,  buy 
and  eat — without  money  and  without  price."  And  surely  you 
have  no  excuse  for  hesitating,  who  on  the  back  of  all  this, 
know  that  "  God  in  these  last  times  hath  spoken  unto  us 
by  his  Son,"  saying  "Whosoever  will  let  him  take  of  the 
water  of  life  freely." 


INTRODUCTORY  DISCOURSE. 


II. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    OF    THE    "  SUNDRY    TIMES  "    INSPIRED    OP 

GOD  ;   THE   ONLY   SOURCE    OF   SAVING    KNOWLEDGE    AND 

ANTIDOTE   TO   PERILOUS   ERROR. 

I.  Timothy,  iii.  1  16. — This  know  also,  that  in  the  last  days  perilous 
times  shall  come.  *  *  *  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness. 

Viewed  simplj  in  its  aspect  as  Divine,  nothing  incidental 
can  add  solemnity  and  importance  to  any  utterance  of  "holy 
men  of  old  who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Viewed  on  its  human  side,  however,  this  passage 
in  the  Epistle  to  Timothy,  "  his  son  in  the  gospel,"  has 
special  solemnity  and  power,  as  the  farewell  counsel  and 
warning  of  an  aged  martyr  for  Jesus,  now  in  prison  awaiting 
execution,  and  saying  of  himself,  in  this  immediate  con- 
nection, "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my 
departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith  ;  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  judge,  shall  give  me." 

Though  from  a  prison,  therefore,  and  though  a  picture  of 
the  world  drawn  by  one  whom  it  had  maligned,  scorned, 
scourged,  imprisoned,  and  condemned  to  death,  it  is  not  in 
the  snarling  spirit  of  a  cynic,  but  in  the  joyous  spirit  of  a 


38  ALL   SCRIPTURE    GOD   INSPIRED. 

martyr,  shaded,  indeed,  for  a  moment,  as  lie  recurs  from  the 
glorious  prospect  before  him  to  the  sad  prospects  of  the  way- 
ward and  erring  church  of  his  love  that  he  leaves  behind  him. 
Nor  is  it  in  the  spirit  of  an  empirical  enthusiast  that  he  pre- 
scribes the  scriptures  as  the  only  antidote  for  the  anticipated 
perils  of  error,  but  in  the  profoundest  convictions  of  his  own 
heart's  experience,  and  his  large  observation  and  experience 
in  dealing  with  the  errors  and  passions  of  men. 

We  should  note  carefully,  at  least  tile  general  outlines  of 
the  Apostle's  picture  of  perilous  times  in  the  last  days,  as 
preparatory  to  any  proper  appreciation  of  the  antidote  for  all 
those  perils  which  he  finds  in  the  scriptures  inspired  of  God. 

You  will  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  unbounded  as  is 
the  confidence  of  the  Apostle  in  the  power  of  the  gospel  to 
regenerate  society,  and  large  as  are  his  anticipations  of  its 
success,  neither  he  in  this  place,  nor  the  inspired  writers  any 
where  else,  give  ftny  countenance  to  the  dreams  so  popular  in 
these  last  times,  of  a  progress  of  society  under  the  gospel 
with  its  Christian  reforms  and  philanthropies,  to  a  golden  age 
of  universal  perfection.  Nor  do  they  give  any  ground  for 
the  infidel  scofi"  and  cavil,  so  popular  also  in  these  last  times, 
that  Christianity  is  a  failure  ;  because,  in  spite  of  all  the 
efforts  of  the  Church,  the  society,  even  of  Christendom,  is  still 
so  largely  corrupt,  insincere,  selfish,  God-despising,  sham- 
worshipping,  sensual,  devilish.  Nay,  they  give  no  ground, 
either  for  the  disappointments  and  despondencies  of  that 
Arcadian  piety  which,  assuming  the  saintly  perfection  of  the 
Church,  anticipated  nothing  but  peace,  purity,  and  love, 
within  its  sacred  enclosures,  and  having  failed  to  realize  its 
ideal,  falls  back  into  censoriousness,  uncharitableness,  distrust 
and  unbelief.  For  it  is  evidently  within  the  limits  of  Chris- 
tianized communities,  and  even  of  the  Church  itself,  that  the 
Apostle  prophetically  sees  these ."  men  that  shall  be  lovers 
of  their  own  selves^  covetous^  boasters,  proud,  blasphemers, 


FEATURES    OF    THE    PERILOUS    TIMES.  30 

disobedient  to  |?rtr6'?<^'«.',  unilianhful^  unholij,  ivii'huut  natural 
affections,  trucehreakers,  false  accusers^  incontinent,  fierce, 
despisers  of  those  that  are  good,  traitors,  heady,  high  minded, 
lovers  of  2)lea^Hre  more  than  lovers  of  God.''''  That  lie  antici- 
pates the  realization  of  this  appalling  list  of  sins  within  the 
limits  of  Christianized  communities,  and  among  those  making 
pretence  to  religion,  is  very  manifest  from  the  last  item  in  the 
catalogue — "  Having  a  form  of  godliness,  hut  denying  the 
power  thereof.''''  The  predictions  of  i\iQ  scriptures  uniformly 
represent  that  humanity  shall  go  on  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration, until  the  era  of  millennial  glory,  exhibiting  the  same 
depravity  and  the  same  passions,  even  under  all  the  light  of 
the  gospel;  and  that  the  gospel,  parallel  with  the  progress  of 
humanity,  shall  gather  out  of  the  corrupt  generations  Christ's 
elect,  by  the  same  exercise  of  Divine  power  and  grace  that 
converts  the  most  fierce  and  savage  of  the  species.  Nay, 
that  even  the  visible  Church  shall  constantly  be  liable  to  cor- 
ruption from  the  world  without,  and  from  unsanctified  nature 
within  its  enclosures.  And,  therefore,  not  oyAj  shall  the 
tares  continue  to  grow^  with  the  wheat  till  the  reapers  come 
for  the  harvest,  but  not  unfrequently  the  tares  shall  utterly 
choke  out  the  wheat  in  large  portions  of  the  field. 

Having  drawn  this  general  outhne  of  the  picture,  the 
Apostle  proceeds  to  point  out  the  influences  at  work  in  the 
Church  to  produce  such  corruption  of  faith  and  morals.  And 
here  he  presents  certain  portraits  of  character  which  may 
well  lead  us  to  study,  with  special  intei^st,  both  the  perils 
and  the  antidote  in  the  infallible  Word  of  God  which  he  sets 
before  us. 

The  first  of  these  special  portraitures,  in  filling  up  the 
picture,  is  the  religious  pretence  of  the  erroiism  of  the  last 
days.  For  observe,  the  special  peril  here  descril>ed  is  not 
from  the  "  scofiers,"  whose  coming  in  the  last  days  the 
Apostle  Peter  predicted,  but  rather  from  the  hypocrites  whom 


40  ALL    SCRIPTURE    GOD    INSPIRED. 

both  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Judc  predict  and  describe  as 
''  false  teachers,  who  shall  privily  bring  in  damnable  heresies, 
even  denying  the  Lord  that  bought  them,"  (II.  Peter, 
ii.  1) ;  and  as  "  certain  men  crept  in  unawares,  ungodly 
men,  turning  the  grace  of  our  God  into  lasciviousness,  and 
denying  the  only  Lord  God,  even  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ" 
(Jude  i.  4).  Yet  all  this  is  done  under  the  guise  of  "  a 
form  of  godliness."  Nay,  generally,  as  we  see  from  the 
fulfilment,  under  the  guise  of  a  form  of  extra  godliness. 
The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  hath  organized  it,  is  repre- 
sented by  them  to  be  a  laggard  and  a  sluggard  in  the  great 
movement  of  philanthropy  for  the  regeneration  of  humanity. 
So  far  advanced  is  this  new  and  improved  form  of  godliness, 
that  even  Jesus  and  His  Apostles,  though  patronizingly  smiled 
upon  as  well-meaning  men,  are  regarded  as  far  in  the  rear 
of  the  modern  philanthro[)y.  But  especially  are  the  Apostles 
far  in  the  rear  of  the  improved  form  of  godliness  whose 
flexibiUty  so  readdy  adapts  itself  to  the  tastes  of  men,  and 
thereby  beguiles  them  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  devises, 
now,  a  poetic  religionism  for  ';he  sentimental ;  now  a  gorgeous 
ceremonial  for  the  lovers  of  the  oesthetic  ;  now  penances  for 
the  self-righteous  ;  now  indulgences  for  the  lovers  of  pleasure ; 
now  fires  the  zeal  of  bigots  with  ''  genealogies  and  old  wives' 
fables  ;"  and  now  assures  the  careless  and  sluggish  Gallios 
that  it  is  "no  matter  about  belief  if  one  is  sincere."  In 
short,  while  it  quiets  the  craving  of  the  human  soul  for 
a  religion  of  some  sort,  it  skilfully  adapts  itself  to  every  phase 
of  human  self-love  and  human  weakness.  It  preserves,  for 
policy's  sake,  the  semblance  of  gospel  religion  ;  but  under 
well-feigned  zeal  for  its  outward  form,  it  assiduously  subverts 
its  power. 

A  second  feature  in  the  picture  is  the  very  peculiar  propa- 
(jandism  of  this  sham  religion—"  which  creeps  into  houses 
and  leads  captive  silly  women" — yvuaiKupia — in  the  neuter, 


FEATURES    OF    THE    PERILOUS    TIMES.  41 

and  licnce  the  word  may  avcII  he  taken  as  descrl})tive  of  the 
brainless  of  either  sex.  This  is  the  remarkable  characteristic 
of  7nost  mere  formal  religionism,  that  its  propagandism  ex- 
pends itself,  not  in  going  forth  to ''  the  highways  and  hedges," 
nor  to  the  people  that  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death,"  but  in  creeping  within  the  enclosures  of  the  covenant, 
either  to  seduce  off  its  victims  or  to  infuse  into  the  weak 
minds  self-conceit,  self-righteousness,  dissatisfaction  with  the 
law  and  ordinances  of  Christ's  house,  and  suspicion  and  dis- 
trust of  those  who  administer  them. 

A  thii'd  feature  in  the  picture  of  this  sham-religion  of  the 
last  days  is  its  purely  vegatice  character — "  Ever  learning 
and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  tru.th.''^  How 
apt  the  description  of  that  religionism  which,  while  professing 
to  accept  the  gospel  as  Christians,  assures  us  at  the  same 
time  that  nothing  is  settled  as  the  positive  truth  of  God,  but 
all  things  are  open  to  dispute  as  mere  opinions.  It  has  no 
faith,  but  only  an  opinion.  Its  gospel  is  not  "  credo  " — "  I 
believe,"  but  ever  "iiego^' — "I  deny."  Its  prayer  and 
confession  is  not,  "  Lord,  I  believe,  help  thou  mine  unbelief," 
but  '•  Lord,  I  deny,  reject,  eschew  all  creeds,  reward  Thou 
mine  unbelief."  The  creed,  or  rather  the  no-creed,  on  which 
it  founds  its  hopes  of  salvation — no,  not  of  salvation,  for  it 
neither  needs,  nor  Avould  accept  salv^ation — but  on  which  it 
founds  its  hope  of  heaven,  is,  "I  believe  not  God  as  maker  of 
heaven  and  earth,  since  I  know  not  whether  heaven  and  earth 
were  made,  or  only  developed  ;  I  believe  ?w^  Jesus  Christ  the 
Son  of  God,  for  all  of  us  are  in  like  manner  sons  of  God.  I 
believe  not  fhQ  Holy  Ghost,  in  any  sense  of  a  personal  spirit 
and  sanctifier,  but  only  as  a  figure  of  speech.  I  believe  not 
that  we  are  justified  by  faith,  but  every  one  of  us  will  for  our 
works  be  rewarded  with  God's  favour.  And  as  to  other 
points,  I  have  not  been  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  ;  and  even  if  I  had,  could  not  say  I  believe,  since  that 
would  trammel  free  thought  with  a  creed. 


42  ALL    SCRIPTURE    GOD    TXSPIRED. 

Another  feature  of  the  picture  is  the  jjI an sibiUti/  and  inge- 
nuity of  the  teachers  of  this  sham  religion  ;  they  shall  be  able 
so  to  counterfeit  the  truth  as  to  deceive  even  the  very  elect. 
"  As  Jannes  and  Jambres  withstood  Moses," — counterfeiting 
the  very  miracles  intended  to  demonstrate  the  presence  and 
power  of  Jehovah  with  him,  and  thereby  destroying  the  effect 
of  the  miracle  on  Pharaoh's  mind — "  so  do  these  also  resist  the 
tnith.^^  They  counterfeit  the  very  seal  of  heaven,  and  so 
counterfeit  the  current  coin  of  Christ's  kingdom,  that  the  real 
people  of  the  kingdom  are  imposed  upon  by  their  high  sound- 
ing phrases  of  faith  and  piety ! 

Brethren,  those  of  you  who  are  at  all  famihar  with  the 
current  style  of  the  insidious  infidelity  of  these  times — its 
pretended  zeal  for  the  honour  of  Christianity — its  affected 
sigliings  after  a  more  spiritual  faith  than  either  Moses  and 
the  Prophets,  or  Jesus  and  his  Apostles  teach — its  noisy 
pliilanthropism — and  its  pretentious  claims  to  have  met  the 
demands  of  science  and  the  progress  of  modern  tliought — will 
readily  perceive  that  the  aged  martyr  here  paints  no  ideal 
picture,  nor  a  picture,  either,  of  men  and  things  only  of  the 
ages  gone  by ! 

Now^,  for  such  perils  as  these  to  the  Church  of  God,  the 
Apostle  points  out  the  remedy  which,  if  faithfully  applied, 
shall  prove  infallible.  "Thou  hasfc  known,  from  a  child,  the 
holy  scriptures  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salva- 
tion." And  they  are  thus  able  to  teach  the  infallible  way  of 
salvation : — 

First,  because  of  their  intrinsic  dignity  and  infallible 
authority,  as  the  inspiration  of  God  : 

Secondly,  because  their  inspiration  gives  their  contents  a 
Divine  adaptation  to  every  positive  want  of  the  mind  and 
heart  in  reference  to  the  question  of  religion,  and  to  the 
exposure  of  every  form  of  religious  error.  For  they  give 
Divine,  and  therefore  infallible  clirection,  fo?'  doctrine — :^:6ac. 


AVIIY    SCRIPTURE    THE    ANTIDOTE    TO    SUCH    PERILS.    43 

Kc/.c: — tlic  didactic  teaching  of  the  truth  concerning  God  ; 
"for  reproof" — th-y^ov — the  refutation,  by  proof,  of  error 
concerning  God  ;  "/or  correction^'' — t-av6p()uca — the  setting 
right  or  rectifying  the  wrong  principles  of  practical  ethics  ; 
''[for  histr action  in rigliteousness^ ' — -aiduav ri/v h ciKfuoarvy — the 
positive  nurture  of  the  soul  in  experimental  knowledge  of  the 
wa}^  in  which  a  sinner  may  be  accounted  righteous  before  God. 

And  this,  it  will  be  perceived  on  a  little  reflection,  is  no 
mere  random  citation  of  certain  uses  to  which  the  word  of 
God  may  be  applied,  as  specimens  of  that  use  simply.  It  is 
a  marvellously  logical  classification  of  their  uses  ;  and  it  is 
exhaustive,  as  covering  all  the  possible  wants  that  man  can 
desire  to  have  met  by  a  revelation.  As  a  being  endowed  with 
reason,  and  capable  of  believing  only  what  he  conceives  to  be 
truth,  his  religion  must  embrace  a  doctrine  of  God  and  his 
relation  to  God.  As  a  creature  liable  to  be  deceived,  by 
error  and  unbelief,  concerning  God  and  his  relations  to  God, 
his  religion  must  have  a  guide  to  warn  him  against  and  expose 
the  treacherous  wiles  of  error,  that  are  ever  tampering  with 
his  "  evil  heart  of  unbelief."  As  a  being  whose  passions  are 
ev^er  blinding  his  conscience  in  reference  to  duty  toward  God 
and  man,  his  religion  must  supply  him  with  an  ethical  rule  of 
right,  by  which  to  correct  his  crooked  judgments  and  amend 
his  crooked  ways.  As  a  being  capable  of  a  birth  to  a  new 
and  everlasting  life,  his  religion  must  supply  him  with  a 
nurture  under  the  new  law  of  righteousness  which  the  faith 
that  is  unto  salvation  teaches  him.  So  that  it  may  be 
affirmed,  with  truth,  that  no  want  of  the  human  soul  can  be 
conceived  which  is  not  provided  for  under  one  or  other  of 
these  four  heads. 

We  proceed  now  to  consider  briefly  the  twofold  aspect  in 
which  the  scriptures  are  here  presented  : 

Firi<t,  of  the  intrinsic  dignity  and  authority  of  the  scrip- 
tures  as  inspired  by  God. 


i4        ALL  SCRIPTURE  GOD  INSPIRED. 

In  what  sense  and  to  what  extent  are  we  to  accept  this 
proposition,  "All  Scripture  is  given  b}^  inspiration  of  God  ?" 
This  inquiry  is  the  more  needful  in  an  age  like  this  when,  on 
the  one  hand,  science  and  philosophy  are  demanding,  though 
in  very  courteous  and  reverential  terms,  that  religion  shall 
make  some  concessions  to  its  advance  of  thought,  and,  on  the 
•other,  many  who  stand  as  representatives  of  religion  are  dis- 
posed, in  various  degrees,  to  make  concessions,  explanations, 
apologies,  and  limitations  of  the  high  claims  of  the  scriptures, 
at  which  the  men  of  science  stagger  and  doubt. 

We  answer,  then : 

1.  The  "inspiration  of  God"  in  the  fullest  and  plainest 
sense  which  the  words  convc}^ ;  for  such  is  evidently  the 
meaning  and  drift  of  all  the  language  which  these  scriptures 
use,  in  other  places,  concerning  their  own  origin  and  author- 
ship. They  are  declared  to  be  "the  Word,"  "the  Law," 
^'the  Testimonies,"  "the  Oracles  of  God."  They  claim  to 
report,  in  many  cases,  the  very  words  of  Jehovah,  appearing 
to  them  in  shadowy  form,  or  in  the  visions  of  the  night ;  in 
•other  cases  to  utter  the  words  which  the  "  Spirit  of  Christ  in 
the  prophets  "  spake  ;  which  they  describe  as  the  words  "  of 
the  holy  men  of  old,  who  spake  as  they  Avere  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  They  purport  to  be,  in  part,  the  recorded 
words  of  the  Son  of  God  himself,  who  spake  on  earth  as 
never  man  spake.  They  expressly  declare,  further,  that  not 
■only  did  God  speak  "  in  time  past,  to  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets,  and  in  these  last  times  by  his  Son ;"  but,  also,  that 
the  same  general  truths  were  repeated,  enlarged  upon,  and 
enforced  by  Apostles  whom  God  attested,  as  speaking  for 
him,  "  by  signs  and  wonders  and  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."  It  is  simply  impossible  to  give  such  decla- 
rations their  natural  and  proper  sense,  and  at  the  same  time, 
accept  the  limitations  and  interpretations  suggested  by  the 
current  liberal  criticism,  which,  in  truth,  is  liberal  only  in 


IN    AVIIAT    SEXSi:    AND    TO    WJIAT    EXTENT  V        46' 

the  sense  of  granting  what  is  not  its  o^vll,  Ijut  Christ's,  the 
Prophet  of  the  Churcli,  by  ^vay  of  removing  the  difficulties 
that  ''the  progress  of  modern  thought"  and  "the  advance 
of  philosophy  "  has  found  in  tlie  Bible 

For  however  this  criticism  may  urge  that  its  purpose  is- 
merely  to  translate  into  more  scientific  forms  of  expression 
the  thought  of  an  ancient  record,  belonging  to  a  more  poetic 
and  less  scientific  age  ;  very  manifestly,  the  sacred  writers 
themselves  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  book  is  designed 
to  be  the  utterance  of  the  mind  of  God,  not  in  scientific  form, 
but  in  the  forms  of  thought  and  speech  current  among  the 
masses  of  humanity  in  the  successive  ages  of  its  progress 
during  the  period  of  inspiration.  Just  as,  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  infinite  nature  of  God  assumed  a  finite 
human  body  and  soul,  conforming  to  our  finite  conceptions,, 
that  we  might  commune  with  him, — so,  in  the  scripture,  the 
infinite  mind  of  God,  the  Saviour,  assuming  a  finite  human, 
form  of  thought  and  expression,  reveals  himself  to  our  finite 
comprehension,  that  he  may  communicate  to  us  his  way  of 
salvation. 

To  all  those  treacherous  forms  of  unbelief,  therefore,  which 
affect  to  receive  the  scriptures  as  the  inspiration  of  God,  and 
yet  reject  their  teachings  of  Christ  as  God  in  human  form, 
because  incomprehensible,  there  is  this  very  simple  answer  : 
It  is  utterly  incompetent  to  those  who,  in  any  real  sense, 
accept  the  scriptures,  as  inspired  of  God,  to  reject  any 
teaching,  or  even  any  interpretation  of  their  teaching,  be- 
cause it  is  thus  incomprehensible  ;  since  in  the  very  act  of 
receiving  the  Scriptures,  as  truly  inspired  of  God,  you  have 
already  accepted  a  truth  equally  incomprehensible.  For  not 
more  so  is  the  proposition  that  the  infinite  nature  should  have 
assumed  the  finite  form  of  the  human  body  animated  by  a 
human  soul,  than  the  proposition  that  the  infinite  mind  should 
have  assumed  the  finite  form  of  the  human  mind  to  utter  its- 
thought  to  man. 


46  ALT.    SCRIPTURE    GOD    INSPIRED. 

The  scriptures  then  arc,  in  the  fullest  sense,  the  inspira- 
tion of  God.  It  is  God,  the  Saviour,  using  the  machiifcry  of 
human  nature — its  inteilect,  emotions,  will,  fashions  of  thought 
and  organs  of  utterance — through  which  to  express  to  man 
his  infinite  concern  for  him,  and  his  method  of  saving  him. 
As  these  utterances  of  God  extended  through  different  ages 
and  civilizations,  therefore  the  speech  varies  in  its  forms, 
according  to  the  varieties  of  thought  and  speech  which  the 
humanity  assumed  to  itself  in  its  progress  through  the  ages. 
For  so  thoroughly  human  in  its  form  was  God's  speech  de- 
signed to  be,  that  it  moulded  itself  in  the  successive  forms 
into  which  humanity  moulded  its  thought  and  speech  in  th^ 
different  eras.  Hence  the  scriptures  became  so  thoroughly 
divine  thoughts,^  moulded  so  thoroughly  in  human  forms  of 
expression.  And  the  Bible,  while  a  divine  book,  is,  at  the 
same  time,  the  most  thoroughly  human  book  in  the  world. 
Flexible  thus  to  mould  itself,  during  the  process  of  its  utter- 
ance to  the  varying  phases  of  human  thought  in  successive 
ages,  the  divine  thought,  as  soon  as  its  utterance  was 
completed,  and  the  revelation  closed,  became  in  its  turn  a 
power  that  moulded  the  thought  and  speech  of  all  the  suc- 
cessive ages  and  civilizations  since,  to  its  own  form  of  thought 
and  fashion  of  utterance.  So  that  now  the  Bible  stands  forth, 
before  the  modern  ages,  neither  a  curious  petrifaction — a 
fossil  of  a  divine  human  organism  that  once  lived  and  breathed, 
ages  ago,  nor  a  statue — cold,  rigid  and  lifeless,  however  beau- 
tiful— carved  by  science  out  of  the  primeval  rock,  but  a 
living  and  breathing  human  expression  of  the  thoughts  of 
''  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever." 

2.  And  as  we  take  the  expression  "  inspiration  of  God  " 
in  its  fullest  sense ;  so  also  we  take  in  its  fullest  sense  the 
expression  "  All  Scripture."  For  the  description  of  inspir- 
ation just  given  excludes  the  idea  of  one  portion  of  scripture 
as  inspired,  another  not  inspired,  and  still  another  de?ni- 


IN    T7IIAT    SENSE    AND    TO    AA^IT\T    EXTENT?       47 

inspired.  The  too  current  popular  notion  that  tlie  New 
Testament  is,  somehow,  inspired  in  a  sense  higher  than  the 
Old  Testament ;  or,  that  of  the  New  Testament  itself,  some 
portions,  as  the  words  of  Jesus  in  the  Evangelists,  arc  in- 
spired in  some  higher  sense  than  the  teachings  of  John  and 
Paul  and  Peter,  is  utterly  incompatible  Avith  the  conception 
of  the  Bible  as  a  God-inspired  book.  With  regard  to  the 
inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  non-inspiration  of 
the  Old,  it  is  sufficient  to  remind  you,  that  Jesus  and  his 
Apostles,  not  only  endorsed  the  Old  Testament  writers  as 
inspired,  but  founded  their  own  teachings  wholly  upon  it. 
It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  stream  can  rise  no  higher 
than  its  source.  '*  If  they  believe  not  Moses  and  the  pro- 
phets," saith  Jesus,  ''  neither  will  they  believe  though  one 
rose  from  the  dead."  "  Had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would 
have  beUeved  me  for  he  wrote  of  me,"  said  Jesus  on  another 
occasion.  And  so  we  say  now,  to  those  who  affect  to  accept 
the  inspiration  of  the  gospels  while  they  reject  the  Old  Tes- 
tament— "  Had  ye  really  believed  Jesus,  ye  would  believe 
Moses,"  for  Jesus  spake  of  Moses  and  endorsed  him, — saying 
"  I  came  not  to  destroy  the  law  but  to  fulfil ;"  and  to  his 
disciples,  after  his  resurrection,  "  beginning  at  Moses  and  all 
the  prophets  he  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures 
the  things  concerning  himself,"  saying,  "  All  things  must  be 
fulfilled  which  were  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the 
prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms  concerning  me." 

If  tVen  the  sayings  of  Moses  and  the  prophets  are  not 
the  inspiration  of  God,  how  can  ye  pretend  to  receive  as 
inspiration  the  sayings  of  Jesus  ?  How  could  inspired 
teachers  in  the  New  Testament  mistake  so  widely  as  to 
account  for  inspired  that  which  is  not  inspired  ?  The  truth 
is  that  this  popular  conception  of  the  superior  inspiration  of 
what  Jesus  said  above  that  which  Moses,  or  David,  or  Paul, 
or  John  said,  is  the  merest  fallacy.     For  the  book  claims 


48  ALL    SCRIPTURE    GOD    INSPIRED. 

that  it  i3  all  really  what  Jesus,  the  Saviour,  said  ;  only  this 
part  he  said  through  Moses,  this  part  through  David  and 
the  prophets,  by  his  spirit  in  them,  and  this  part  through 
Evangelists  and  Apostles,  ))y  his  spirit  upon  them.  What 
boots  it  to  us,  if  it  only  be  Christ  speaking,  whether  he  gives 
utterance  to  his  divine  thou";hts  throudi  the  mind  of  the 
legal  man  Moses,  or  the  poetic  men  David  and  Isaiah,  or  the 
logical  man  Paul,  or  the  transcendental  man  John  ?  The 
scripture  therefore  is  the  inspiration  of  God  in  the  sense  of 
being  in  all  portions  alike  inspired. 

B.  Still  further,  as  we  take  the  expression  "  inspiration  of 
God,"  and  "  all  scripture "  in  their  fullest  sense,  so  we 
understand  them  as  signifying  that  the  forms  of  sjjeech,  in 
each  portion,  are  selected  under  inspired  guidance.  We  are 
not  disposed,  with  too  many  of  the  critics,  to  make  abate- 
ment on  the  score  of  the  want  of  scientific  accuracy  of  the 
scripture  rhetoric,  or  of  supposed  accommodation  to  the  un- 
scientific spirit  of  the  eras  of  the  writers.  W^e  decline  the 
proffered  aid  of  such  apologists,  not  merely  because  we  judge 
that  the  difficulties  which  they  labor  to  remove  arise  from 
"  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief"  that ''  would  not  believe  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead;"  but  because,  also,  the  apologies 
themselves  are  founded,  for  the  most  part,  upon  assumptions 
that  are  not  true. 

As  to  the  apology  for  the  unscientific  structure  and  style 
of  the  scripture,  that  it  grew  out  of  the  want  of  scientific 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  agents  employed  by  the  spirit 
of  God,  or  want  of  scientific  capacity  to  comprehend  the 
"  higher  modern  thought,"  it  is  simply  untrue  in  fact.  For 
the  written  history  of  the  ages  of  Apostles,  Evangelists  and 
Prophets,  and  the  recently  disentombed  records  of  the  early 
civilization  on  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile,  all  go  to  show, 
that  if  there  had  been  any  desire  to  give  scientific  form  to 
this  revelation,  there  was  philosophy  enough  in  the  world  to 


DIFFICULTIES    OF    UNBELIEF.  49 

have  enabled  men  to  comprehend  then,  just  as  well  as  now, 
a  revelation  made  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  "  higher 
form  of  thought. "  In  the  mystic  schools  of  Egypt,  in  the  Pan- 
theistic schools  of  Chaldca  and  the  East,  all  the  jargon  of  the 
modern  philosophic  schools  of  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain 
and  America,  Avas  in  full  blast ;  and,  in  fact,  higher  flights  of 
transcendentalism  and  profounder  thoughts  were  in  the  process 
of  utterance,  than  the  schools  of  modern  Germany,  France, 
Britain  and  America,  may  yet  have  had  the  capacity  to  com- 
prehend. However  that  may  be,  there  was  surely  philosophy 
enough  in  the  world  in  the  age  of  Jesus,  John  and  Paul,  had 
they  chosen  scientific  forms  of  utterance,  to  have  made  them 
as  comprehensible  to  their  age  as  Socrates,  Plato  and  Cicero. 
Beyond  all  doubt  a  larger  number  of  their  generation  could 
have  comprehended  them,  than  the  number  of  our  generation 
which  comprehends  the  transcendental  "  higher  thought " 
of  Germany,  France,  Old  England  or  New  England  !  But 
so  far  from  desiring  to  satisfy  the  "  higher  thought "  of  his 
age,  as  he  certainly  had  the  capacity  to  do,  Paul  declared 
that  of  a  set  purpose,  he  preached  a  gospel  which  "  was  to 
the  Greek  foolishness." 

It  is  not  consistent  with  the  limits  of  a  single  discourse 
to  go  into  the  merits  of  the  question  concerning  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  theory  of  plenary  inspiration.  There  are 
doubtless  difficulties  he»e,  as  there  are  in  all  our  endeavours 
to  comprehend  the  things  of  God.  It  is  easy  to  suggest 
difficulties  ;  easier  than  to  solve  them.  It  is  easy  to  descend 
to  the  lowest  depths  of  unbelief ;  not  so  easy  to  retrace  one's 
steps  and  rise  out  of  the  depths.  Biit  does  scepticism  on  this 
subject  relieve  us  of  difficulties  ?  Are  they  all  on  the  side 
of  belief?  Come  then,  ye  that  find  difficulties  in  our  belief — 
take  ye  the  laboring  oar,  and  let  us  propound  in  turn  our 
difficulties  with  your  theory  of  unbelief. 

Come,  expound  to  us  the  curious  riddle — how  it  is  that 

T) 


50  ALL    SCRIPTURE    GOD    INSPIRED. 

this  Bible  alone  of  all  the  books  in  the  world,  attempts  the 
bold  endeavour  of  a  calm,  historic  statement  of  the  first 
origin  of  the  race.  How  is  it,  that  as  we  attempt  to  trace 
up,  through  other  channels,  the  present  order  of  things  in 
the  world  to  its  source,  we  can  get  no  farther  back  than 
some  three  thousand  years,  either  by  aid  of  history  or  plau- 
sible legend  ;  and  there  find  ourselves  upon  a  vast  historic 
desert  ?  But,  when  all  other  history  stops,  this  book  becomes, 
like  its  own  pillar  of  fire  that  blazed  across  the  Arabian 
desert,  a  beacon  light  to  guide  us  onward  and  upward  to  the 
birth  spot  of  the  present  generations  ?  Nay,  having  brought 
us  there  to  Ararat  slowly  emerging  from  a  vast  desert  of 
waters,  then,  like  its  own  ark,  floats  us  over  the  waste  of 
waters  and  up  to  the  very  birthplace  of  time  itself  ? 

Or  solve  for  us  the  still  profounder  difiSculty,  on  your  scep- 
tical theory,  how  these  mysterious  writings  have  so  deeply 
rooted  themselves  in  the  world's  thought,  in  spite  of  the 
perpetual  conflict  they  have  had  with  the  general  thought  of 
every  successive  generation.  And  how  they  still  have  not 
only  survived  but  triumphed  in  this  perpetual  war  with  the 
opinions  of  mankind  ? 

Or  solve  for  us  the  curious  fact  that  this  book  alone,  of 
all  books  in  the  world,  instead  of  uttering  the  opinions  of  the 
successive  ages  that  produced  it,  has  been  the  antagonist  of 
these  opinions  ; — maintaining  the  unity  of  God  amid  all  the 
darkness  of  the  Western  Polytheism;  the  vivid  personality 
of  God  against  the  Eastern  Pantheism  ;  the  inefiable  purity 
and  holiness  of  God  against  the  obscenities  of  Egyptian  and 
Canaanitish  idolatry  ;  the  omnipresence  of  God  against  the 
theory  of  gods  many  and  lords  many ;  teaching  salvation 
by  grace  without  works,  just  when  and  where  the  great 
schools  of  the  world  were  glorying  in  the  perfection  of  their 
ethical  schemes  for  human  regeneration  ;  teaching  the  resur- 
rection of  the   body  and  how  the   "  mortal  must  put  on 


.       ADAPTED    TO    EVERY    WANT    OF    THE    SOUL.         51 

immortality,"  just  ^\•llcn  and  Avhcrc  Socrates  and  Plato  had 
theorized  for  man  an  immortality  that  excluded  the  mortal 
body,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Epicurus  and  his  swinish  herd 
were  grunting  their  j^ractical  atheism  of  the  degradation  of 
both  soul  and  body,  on  the  other  ! 

Or  expound  for  us  this  mystery,  how,  in  the  modern  ages, 
this  book  at  war  with  human  ideas,  has  stood  its  ground,  not 
only,  but  made  constant  aggressions  on  the  domain  both  of 
ignorance  and  learned  unbelief.  How  now  it  bursts  forth 
into  new  splendor  to  chase  away  the  darkness,  just  as  Papal 
tyranny  has  exiled  it  from  Europe.  How  now  it  spreads  its 
ideas  over  the  enlightened  world  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
face  of  the  combined  powers  of  scoffing  and  maligning  atheism ; 
of  cavilling  and  witty  deism  ;  of  sneering  and  contemptuous 
pantheism ;  of  plausible  and  insinuating  spiritualism ;  of  a 
treacherous  and  sanctimonious  rationalism  ! 

Or  expound  to  us  the  mystery  that  this  book,  while  all 
other  books  evince  an  adaptedness  to  the  mind  of  some  one 
country  and  age — as  Persian  Zoroaster,  Greek  Socrates,  or 
Ptoman  Cicero — is  the  book  alike  of  all  countries  and  ages  ? 
Nay  more,  is  the  book  that  adapts  itself  alike  to  every  phase 
of  mind  in  every  state  and  period  of  individual  life,  from  the 
young  dreams  of  the  nursery,  and  the  heart  throbbings  of 
the  rudest  peasant,  up  to  the  profoundest  conviction  of  the 
philosopher  and  the  sublimest  inspiration  of  the  poet  ? 

Let  those  w^ho  stagger  under  the  difficulties  of  behef  in 
scripture  as  the  inspiration  of  God,  make  the  experiment  of 
solving  some  of  the  difficulties  of  unbelief.  Then  may  they 
find  that  difficulties  do  not  always  imply  error. 

Second. — Of  the  Divine  adaptation  of  these  inspired  scrip- 
tures to  the  need  of  man  as  a  religious  creature.  We  have 
space  for  brief  hints,  merely,  under  the  several  heads  of  the 
Apostle's  exhaustive  fourfold  classification. 

1.  The   Scripture,  God-inspired — in  the   sense  just   ex- 


52  ALL    SCRIPTURE    GOD    INSPIRED. 

plained,  of  God  the  Saviour  revealing  to  man,  the  sinner,  a 
way  of  salvation — is  ''•  j^rofitablefor  doctrine ^''^  and  the  only 
reliable  source  of  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  salvation.  As 
God  the  Creator,  he  speaks  in  "  the  heavens  that  tell  the 
glory  of  God  ;"  and  the  "  invisible  things  of  God  are  made 
manifest  from  the  things  that  are  made."  From  these  man 
may  learn  something  of  his  relation  to  God  his  Creator ;  and 
this  revelation  in  nature  is  that  which  forms  his  guide  in 
establishing  law  and  justice  and  government  for  himself  and 
for  society.  Yet  even  when,  in  the  highest  exercise  of  his 
capacity,  man  thus  haply  feels. after  and  finds  God,  that 
knowledge,  in  connection  with  his  own  moral  instincts,  dis- 
covers to  his  conscience  not  only  a  law,  but  a  law  violated. 
And  therefore  the  highest  stretch  of  his  knowledge  of  God, 
through  nature,  is  only  to  demonstrate  the  probability  of  an 
existence  of  disorder  and  misery  in  store  for  him  hereafter, 
as  well  as  here.  . 

If  then,  standing  in  the  relation  of  a  Saviour  to  man  the 
sinner,  God  makes  a  revelation  of  a  method  whereby  he  may 
be  saved,  this  must  be  not  merely  a  source,  but  the  onl^ 
source,  of  all  such  knowledge  of  God  the  Saviour.  And  just 
here  lies  the  fallacy  of  all  those  deceptive  forms  of  reli- 
gionism, on  either  extreme,  which  suppose  the  scriptures  to 
be  a  source,  but  not  the  onlf/  source  of  all  doctrine  concern- 
ing salvation.  It  is  such  a  mockery  to  the  powers  of  reason 
with  which  God  has  endowed  man  to  conceive  him  capable 
of  believing  truth,  as  a  mere  act  of  obedience  to  authority, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  such  a  mockery  of  the  scriptures  as 
God-inspired,  on  the  other,  to  suggest  a  concurrent  jurisdic- 
tion of  mere  human  reason  with  God's  word  in  the  authorita- 
tive statement  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  to  man,  that  none 
who  are  capable  of  intelligently  conceiving  of  the  nature  of 
religion,  or  who  arc  not  given  over  to  blindness,  can  well  be 
led  far  astray  by  such  a  theory.      The  chasm  between  a 


ADAPTED    TO    EVERY    WANT    OF    THE    SOUL.        5o 

God  inspired  doctrine  of  religion,  and  a  doctrine  of  mere 
authority,  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  mere  human  reason,  on  the 
other,  is  infinite  and  bridgeless. 

2.  These  God-inspired  scriptures  are  also  "  projitahle  for 
reproof,^' — or  as  the  original  signifies,  "  for  controverting  and 
exposing  errors," — contrary  to  the  "doctrine"  of  salvation. 
So  far  as  concerns  errors  of  theology,  to  which  this  expres- 
sion has,  no  doubt,  reference,  if  we  cease  to  stand  upon  the 
ground  of  the  scriptures,  we  have  no  standard  by  which  to 
test  and  expose  the  subtile  wiles  of  error.  If  we  consent  to 
follow  the  errorist  into  the  region  of  speculative  truth,  it  must 
be  an  endless  chase,  or  a  combat  where  there  are  no  laws  of 
battle  to  determine  the  victory.  And  beside,  the  reason  of 
man,  to  which  in  such  case  we  really  appeal,  is  a  partial  and 
corrupt  judge,  with  a  bias  against  the  moral  laws  of  God. 
Hence  the  unprofitableness  of  so  much  that  passes  for  theolo- 
gical controversy.  It  appeals,  on  both  sides  to  the  authority 
of  reason  merely,  and  leaves  all  as  uncertain  as  before. 
Hence  the  uncertainty  of  all  creeds  in  theology  that  inter- 
polate reason  as  a  co-ordinate  source  of  doctrine  with  revela- 
tion. Their  source  being  variable  and  uncertain,  these  creeds 
seldom  remain  stationary  long  enough  to  be  examined.  Their 
theology  floats  loose,  as  some  poetic  isle  of  Delos  that  floated 
on  the  sea,  so  that  no  navigate^  could  ever  fix  its  place.  Or 
sadly  uncertain  as  our  great  American  river,  the  Mississippi, 
whose  channel  so  changes,  year  by  year,  that  no  pilot  can  fix 
it  upon  his  chart.  He  who,  this  year,  would  run  his  craft  by 
his  knowledge  of  last  year,  finds  himself  high  and  dry  upon 
a  sand-bar,  or  a  "sawyer,"  and  is  coolly  informed  "  that  ivas 
the  channel  last  year,"  but  "  the  progress  "  of  the  last  "  June 
rise,"  not  satisfied  therewith,  has  forced  a  new  channel. 

The  Divine  method  witli  the  gainsayers  is  chiefly  through 
the  ordinances  of  the  sanctuary, — not  witli  endless  "  strifes 
of  words" — to   put  before    the    mind   and  heart  the  clear 


54  ALL    SCRIPTURE    GOD    INSPIRED. 

statement  of  "  doctrine,"  to  meet  the  soul-wants  ;  that  the 
Holy  Ghost,  using  the  doctrine, — may  give  eiFectual  proof 
of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment. 

3.  The  God-inspired  scriptures  are  not  only  thus  the 
source  of  doctrine,  and  the  armory  whence  are  drawn  divine 
weapons  against  errors  in  theology,  but  also  the  test  whereby 
to  rectify  all  ethical  errors.  They  are  profitable  also,  for 
"  correction  "  of  the  practical  life.  It  would  not  be  difficult 
to  show,  if  space  permitted,  that,  independent  of  the  scrip- 
tures, there  can  be  no  ethical  system  of  force  enough  to 
make  its  power  practically  felt  in  the  conscience  of  man. 
For,  with  nothing  more  than  the  vague  conceptions  of  God 
derived  through  reason,  there  can  be  no  moral  law,  save  in 
a  loose  metaphysical  sense.  Hence  the  tendency  of  a  loose 
theology  must  ever  be  to  generate  a  loose  moral  life  ;  how- 
ever much  it  may  aim  to  exalt  '*'  works "  and  belittle 
"  grace."  Hence  too  the  folly  of  the  cant,  that  pretends  to 
accept  the  beautiful  morality  of  the  gospel,  but  rejects  the 
theology  of  the  gospel.  It  is  "  the  play  of  Hamlet  with  the 
part  of  Hamlet  omitted."  Only  as  it  is  founded  upon  the 
theology  of  the  gospel,  has  the  morality  of  the  gospel  any 
more  force  than  the  morality  of  Socrates.  But  upon  this 
wide  field  we  cannot  here  enter,  otherwise  it  would  be  easy 
to  show  that  the  difference  between  the  ethics  of  the  scrip- 
tures and  all  other  systems,  is  a  difference  not  merely  of 
degree,  but  also  an  infinite  difference  of  kind. 

4.  As  to  the  fourth  and  last  point  in  the  Apostle's  classifi- 
cation, that  the  God-inspired  scriptures  are  the  great  means 
of  Christian  nurture — of  "  imtruction  in  righteousness ^^^ 
there  is  less  need  of  argument,  since  here  no  rival  instruction 
pretends  even  to  set  up  a  claim.  Whatever  wisdom  other 
schemes  may  claim  to  teach,  they  do  not  claim  "  to  make 
thee  wise  unto  salvation."  It  is.  not  only  a  "  doctrine,"  a 
"reproof"  of  error   in  theology,  and   a  "correction"   of 


ADAPTED    TO    EVERY    WANT    OF    THE    SOUL.         0-J 

wrong  ethics,  but  is  also  a  "  power," — the  "  power  of  God 
ufito  salvation."  It  hath  a  nurture  which  shall  train  even 
the  most  depraved  for  the  purity  of  heaven.  It  comes  not 
therefore  to  seek  out  exceptional  cases  of  high  moral  virtue, 
but  "  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost," — "  not  to  call 
the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance."  And,  so  thoroughly 
does  it  confide  in  the  power  of  this  nurture,  that  it  proclaims 
without  any  limits  or  exception,  "  able  to  save  to  the 
uttermost  all  that  come  to  God  by  him." 


SECTION  L 


REDEMPTION  AS   REVEALED    TO    THE  PATRIARCHS  IN  THE 
THEOPHANIES. 


DISCOURSE  III 

THE  GOSPEL  COVENANT  AND  WORSHIP  OF  THE  LOST  EDEN. 

Genesis  ii.  8,  9, 15,11 ;  iii.  15,  24  ;  and  iv.  4. — And  the  Lord  God  planted 
a  garden  eastward  in  Eden ;  and  there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had 
formed  *  ♦  *.  The  tree  of  life  also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 

And  the  Lord  God  took  the  man,  and  put  him  into  the  garden  of  Eden 
to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it. 

And  the  Lord  God  commanded  the  man,  saying,  of  every  tree  of  the 
garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat ;  but  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil,  thou  shall  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the  day  that  thou  eatcst  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die. 

And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy 
seed  and  her  seed ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel. 

So  he  drove  out  the  man ;  and  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of 
Eden  Cherubims,  and  a  flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life. 

And  Abel,  he  also  brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock  and  of  the  fat 
thereof     And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  his  offering. 

From  overlooking  a  few  very  obvious  facts  and  principles 
which  must  govern  the  interpretation  of  this  record  of  the 
primeval  estates  of  man  :  the  origin  of  sin  :  and  the  gospel  for 
sinners,  many  true  believers  are  greatly  puzzled  in  the  reading 
thereof;  and  many  unbelievers  take  occasion  to  scoflf.  Chief 
among  these  facts  and  principles  are  these : 


58     THE    EDEN    COVENANT,    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

1.  That  the  design  of  this  inspired  record  is  not  to  present 
a  history  of  the  universe  and  of  God's  relation  to  the  universe  ; 
but  a  history  of  man,  and  the  relation  of  God  in  Christ  to 
man.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  solve  problems  in  the  philoso- 
phy of  human  nature,  as  a  science,  nor  even  in  the  philosophy 
of  God,  as  a  science,  but  simply  to  enunciate  the  problem  of 
the  relation  of  man  to  God,  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,, 
and  to  answer  the  question,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?" 

2.  That  th(5  metliod  of  the  book  is  to  record  the  successive 
developments  of  a  scheme  of  mercy  which  God  interposed? 
after  the  ruin  of  the  race,  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  out  of 
the  wreck  th«  materials  for  the  reconstruction  of  humanity 
through  a  Divine  Mediator  connecting  himself  with  the  race. 

3.  That  the  style  of  the  book  accommodates  itself  to  the 
modes  of  thought  and  speech  common  among  men  in  their 
successive  generations,  rather  than  to  the  technicalities  of 
science  or  the  modes  of  thought  and  speech  current  among 
learned  men.  While  a  divine  book,  therefore,  it  is  the  most 
human  of  books.  The  infinite  mind  that  suggests  its  truths 
presents  their  finite  side  towards  finite  men  that  they  may 
apprehend  and  commune  with  them. 

4 .  That  the  structure  of  the  book  is  singularly  brief  and 
fragmentary,  comprising  the  history  of  twenty  centuries  in 
half  as  many  pages.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  not  the 
brevity  of  a  compend,  as  one  of  our  school  histories  ;  nor  is  jt 
disconnected,  fragmentary  memoirs.  For  each  of  the  frag- 
ments has  a  marvellous  logical  relation  to  the  others,  and  to 
the  whole,  and  aids  in  the  development  of  the  grand  subject. 
Just  as  the  joints  of  the  animal  frame  have  such  a  relation 
to  each  other  and  to  the  whole  structure,  that  a  Cuvier  may 
from  a  single  fossil  bone  construct  the  complete  form  of  the 
Saurian  or  Mastodon  of  pre-historic  ages,  so  the  skilful 
student  of  God's  word  finds  each  fragment  bearing  such 
relation  to  the  others  and  to  the  whole,  that  he  may  logically 


PRINCIPLES   OF    INTERPRETATION.  59 

construct  from  it  the  outlines  of  the  whole  scheme  of  redem]> 
tion. 

5.  That  the  measure  of  the  thought  of  this  book  is  not 
according  to  the  standard  of  other  books.  The  mind  that 
suggests  them  being  an  infinite  mind  before  which  the  past 
and  future  lie  ever  open  as  the  present,  its  utterances  may 
not  seem  to  us  always  to  make  that  marked  distinction  which 
our  habits  of  thinking  make  between  the  past,  the  future  and 
the  present ;  between  history  and  prophecy ;  and  between  the 
immediate  finite  bearing  of  the  truths  and  their  remote  infinite 
bearing.  Nay  more,  its  finite  facts  and  truths  merging  con- 
tinually into  the  infinite,  it  must  needs  be  that  while  we  see 
them,  yet  we  '•  see  through  a  glass  darkly." 

Under  the  limits  and  the  guidance  of  these  and  their  cor- 
relative facts  and  truths,  I  propose,  by  an  interpretation  of  this 
record  in  the  second  and  third  chapter  of  Genesis,  to  bring 
out  in  brief  outline,  historically,  the  Origin  of  the  Gospel 
OF  Kedemptiox,  and  the  germinal  form  of  its  develop- 
ment. 

It  is  necessary  to-any  proper-understanding  of  the  record, — 
and  it  demolishes  at  once  most  of  the  fictions  of  the  scofiers 
at  the  doctrine  of  the  fall, — to  note,  very  particularly,  the 
distinction  between  man's  primal  estate  at  his  creation  and 
his  subsequent  estate  in  Eden.  This  distinction  is  very 
plainly  brought  out  in  the  record.  For  having  given  an 
account  of  man's  creation  and  the  peculiar  endowments  of  his 
nature,  it  proceeds  to  declare  that  after  that — we  know  not 
how  long,  it  may  have  been  a  century — Jehovah  having 
planted  a  garden,  with  its  tree  of  life  and  tree  of  knowledge, 
TOOK  the  man  and  put  him  into  the  garden.  And  subse- 
quently, after  the  fall,  it  is  particularly  said, — he  drove  out 
the  man  to  till  the  ground  ivhence  he  tvas  taken.  That  this 
is  no  overstraining  of  the  language  is  made  evident  also,  by 
the  fact  that  the  sacred  writer,  in  beginning  the  history  of  the 


60     THE    EDEX    COYEXANT,    G03PEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

Eden  transaction,  begins  with  it  to  apply  a  new  title  to  God. 
Before,  the  title  is  simply  '-  Mokim,-'  God  ;  now  it  is  the  title 
which  is  ever  afterwards  used  to  express  his  covenant  relation 
to  man,  "  Jeliovah  Mohim,^^  the  Jehovah  God. 

To  comprehend  fully,  therefore,  the  Eden  condition  of  man, 
we  must  needs  conceive  clearly  and  distinctly,  first,  of  the  rela- 
tion in  which  he  stood  to  God  during  that  estate  which  was, 
both  in  time  and  in  idea,  anterior  to  the  Eden  estate. 

First, — as  to  his  nature.  He  stood  forth  at  his  creation 
an  entirely  new  order  of  being,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  the 
universe.  There  were,  before  this,  angels,  purely  spiritual 
creatures  :  there  were  animals  on  earth,  mere  physical  crea- 
tures ;  but  this  is  a  compound  nature,  spiritual  as  the  angel, 
physical  as  the  animal.  Into  an  organism  fashioned  out  of 
dust,  God  hath  breathed  a  living  soul.  The  account  of  it 
seems  to  imply  that  the  vital  principle  in  man  was  not,  as  in 
the  other  animals,  the  result  of  the  organism,  but  produced 
by  a  separate  and  distinct  creative  act.  The  process  suggests 
that  the  vital  principle  in  man  is  not  necessarily  dependent 
upon  the  physical  organism,  and,  therefore,  may  exist  apart 
from  it.  It  is  connected  rather  with  the  spiritual  principle  ; 
so  that,  while  the  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body  is  the 
death  of  the  body,  yet  the  soul  may  continue  to  exist  in  con- 
nection with  the  vital  principle  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
body. 

But  not  only  is  man  a  new  order  of  existence  in  the  uni- 
veree,  personally ;  but,  by  virtue  of  his  compound  nature,  he 
stands  forth  as  representative  head  of  a  race  of  beings  ;  in 
this  respect  unlike  the  angels  who,  Jesus  tells  us,  "  neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage  ;"  and  therefore  there  are 
no  races  of  angels,  but  each  one  must  be  dealt  with  as  a 
separate  order  of  being. 

Thus,  then,  man  stands  a  subject  toward  his  Creator,  and 
a  sovereign  toward  the  creatures  of  his  system.    He  is  in  the 


ESTATE    OF    MAX    lUCFuKi:    THE    COVENANT.         01 

image  of  God.  His  vital  i)rinciplc  is  inseparably  united  with 
his  soul.  lie  is  free  from  every  sort  of  evil,  i)h3^sical,  mental, 
moral,  or  spiritual.  He  is  capable  of  communing  with  God 
and  with  the  angelic  orders  of  being.  He  is  capable  of  an 
endless  life,  just  as  he  is  :  and  more  than  that,  of  transmit- 
ting the  power  of  a  hke  endless  existence  to  an  innumerable 
race  of  beings  in  his  own  image  : — Now,  out  of  such  a  state 
of  facts  arises,  necessarily,  certain  relations  to  God  his  Creator 
and  to  other  creatures  ; — thus, — 

To  God,  as  the  author  of  his  being,  he  owes  perfect  obe- 
dience and  service ; 

To  God,  as  the  bestower  of  so  much  loving-kindnesa,  he 
owes,  in  return,  a  grateful  love  and  self-consecration. 

To  the  creatures  of  his  dominion  he  owes  a  just  and  bene- 
volent administration  of  his  authority  and  rule. 

To  the  beings  who  may  spring  from  him  he  owes  a  loving 
care  and  parental  guardianship,  that  they  may  keep  steadfastly 
"  their  first  estate  "  of  bliss,  and  not  fall  irrecoverably  by 
sinning  against  God. 

Thus  upon  man,  considered  simply  as  a  creature,  a  law 
was  laid  in  this  his  first  estate.  Whether  a  law  was  formally 
revealed  to  him,  or  he  left  with  such  a  nature  to  be  "  a  law 
unto  himself,"  matters  not  to  the  argument. 

We  infer,  however,  that  a  law  was  formally  given  to  him, 
since,  in  accordance  with  such  an  idea,  would  be  the  obliga- 
tion to  observe  one-seventh  part  of  his  time,  as  specially 
consecrated  to  be  a  perpetual  reminder  of  his  Creator's  good- 
ness. 

So,  had  there  been  no  Eden  with  its  covenant,  and  no  iall, 
there  would  have  been  a  creed  of  three  articles  of  theology, 
and,  with  it,  a  law  imbedded  in  the  very  nature  of  man : — 
The  blessedness  of  the  Adam-race  as  specially  constituted  of 
God  a  compound  creature,  and  his  consecration  to  God :  man's 
dominion  over  the  creatures  :  and  man's  obligation  to  conse- 
crate one-seventh  of  his  time  specially  to  God. 


62     THE    EDEN    COVENANT,    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

Out  of  such  a  state  of  the  case  grows,  necessarily,  the  idea 
of  oblio^ation  to  a  dependent  creature  :  and  out  of  this  the 
idea  of  good  and  evil,  according  to  some  rule  in  the  will  of 
the  Creator  ;  and  from  obligation  and  duty  springs  also  the 
idea  of  penalty  for  disobedience. 

But,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  there  can  be  no  room 
for  anything  like  pardon  in  such  a  system  ;  but,  precisely  as 
now  when  we  violate  physical  laws,  the  penalty  must  inexor- 
ably work  itself  out. 

Anv  transgression  must,  as  far  as  it  reaches,  defeat  the 
whole  scheme. 

Conceive  then  of  the  new  being,  Adam,  left  without  any 
further  law,  and,  unlike  the  angel  creatures,  becoming  the 
head  of  a  whole  race  of  beings  in  his  own  likeness  ;  and  still 
under  no  special  covenant.  Then,  to  every  individual  of  the 
race,  the  only  condition  of  his  continuance  in  blessedness, 
must  have  been  that  he  continued  to  love  and  serve  God  per- 
fectly. And  failure,  in  the  least,  must  be  irretrievable  ruin, 
as  it  had  been  to  "  the  angels  who  kept  not  their  first  estate." 
With  the  same  inevitable  certainty  with  which  the  penalty 
now  follows  violation  of  physical  laws,  such  transgressor  must 
become  at  once  a  devil,  with  an  unchangeable  doom. 

Obviously,  therefore,  but  two  conceivable  forms  of  moral 
constitution  are  possible  to  such  a  creature,  under  which  to 
perpetuate  such  a  relation  between  God  and  man.  Either, 
first,— thsii  each  individual  of  the  race,  through  endless  gene- 
rations, shall  take  the  risk  for  himself,  as  fallible,  and  thus 
each  individual  of  the  race  continue  perpetually  on  trial, 
receiving  his  proper  doom,  in  case  of  transgression  :  or, 
second, — the  race  as  such  may  be  put  upon  trial  by  concen- 
trating universal  obedience  in  some  special  proof  of  it,  and 
through  one  representative  head  of  the  whole  ;  and,  in  case 
the  trial  is  sustained,  the  reward  shall  be  the  establishment 
of  the  whole  by  divine  favour,  in  steadfastness  and  blessed- 


THE    EDEN    COVENANT,    AND    ITS    BREACH.  63 

ness  forever.  So,  from  divers  intimations  in  scripture,  we 
may  infer  that  the  angels  in  heaven  have  been  established  in 
their  steadfastness  by  some  constitution  dating  far  back  in 
eternity.  • 

Now,  the  record  proceeds  to  inform  us  that,  by  special  act 
of  God's  grace,  this  second  order  of  constitution  was  appointed 
for  man.  Instead  of  leaving  the  Adam  race  under  the  original 
and  natural  law  of  his  existence  to  stand  or  fall,  irrecoverably, 
on  the  myriads  of  trials  of  each  one  of  all  the  generations  ; 
God  entered  into  a  covenant  of  life  with  him  conditioned 
upon  one  special  act  of  obedience.  He  placed  him  under  a 
special  dispensation  ;  that  is,  he  changed  the  original  moral 
constitution  under  which  he,  simply  as  a  creature,  stood 
towards  his  Creator.  He  surrounded  him  with  every  element 
of  blessedness  :  taking  away  all  temptation  to  disobedience  : 
and,  laying  upon  him  the  obligation  of  abstinence  from  a  single 
tree  of  all  the  thousands  that  surrounded  him,  ho  put  him  to 
the  test  whether  he  was  indeed  willing  to  perform  all  duty. 

Of  all  the  trees  he  may  eat,  to  nourish  the  physical  life  ; 
of  the  tree  of  life,  even,  whose  fruit  might  impart  the  power 
of  endless  endurance  to  his  physical  life  ;  but  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  appointed  as  the  sacramental  seal 
of  the  covenant  now  made,  he  shall  not  eat,  as  a  pledge  of  his 
readiness  to  serve  and  obey. 

The  whole  transaction  is  thus,  manifestly,  in  the  nature  of 
a  covenant  entered  into  between  Jehovah  and  man,  embody- 
ing the  general  principles  of  man's  relation  to  God  in  specified 
form.  It  is  just  as  when  men  in  their  transactions  with  each 
other,  not  simply  leaving  the  general  principles  of  justice  to 
operate  their  proper  results,  enter  into  contract  specially,  by 
solemn  instrument  with  seals  affixed.  Hence,  Hosea,  allud- 
ing to  this  Eden  covenant,  says  (Hos.  vi.  7)  :  "  They,  like 
Adam,  have  transgressed  the  covenant ;"  and  elsewhere  in 
9cri]4-ure  this  is  treated  as  a  covenant  with  Adam.      It  is  a 


64     THE    EDEN    COVENANT,    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 


covenant,  not  simply  personal  with  Adam,  but  with  him  as 
representative  of  his  race.  We  know  that,  in  it,  he  repre- 
sented Eve  also,  who  though  probably  yet  uncreated,  was  a 
party  to  its  obligation  and  penalty.  It  was  therefore  not 
personally  with  Adam  ;  and  on  the  same  principle  that  he 
represented  one  he  represented  the  whole  race.  That  the 
race  is  involved  in  the  consequences  is  manifest  enough  ; 
which  would  not  have  been  the  case  under  the  original 
constitution.  And,  moreover,  the  scriptures  everywhere 
represent  this  arrangement  as  analogous  to  the  covenant 
of  redemption  with  Christ,  who  stood,  not  personally,  but  as 
the  representative  of  all  the  redeemed. 

And  the  condition  of  this  covenant — namely,  obedience 
in  one  specified  act,  to  a  positive  command  of  the  Creator, 
and  that  merely  a  command  of  abstinence  where  there  was 
no  overpowering,  or  even  strong  temptation — was  certainly  as 
favourable  as  could  be  asked  by  any  fallible  being.  It  would 
sorely  puzzle  those  who  scoff  at  this,  to  conceive  of  a  better 
test  or  a  fairer  trial. 

The  result  of  all  was  a  failure,  by  an  act  of  disobedience. 
This  brings  man  now  into  a  f/wVc?  estate  ;  the  estate  of  spiritual 
death  under  a  broken  covenant,  with  as  yet  no  hope  of 
recovery  set  before  him.  And  the  record  proceeds  to  detail 
the  workings  of  the  human  soul  under  this  new  phase. 

The  first  feature  in  the  picture  is  that  "  their  eyes  were 
opened  ;"  that  is,  to  the  experimental  knowledge  of  evil. 
The  second  is,  that  "  they  knew  that  they  were  naked" — that 
is,  in  the  spiritual  and  typical  sense,  as  when  Moses  saw  that 
Aaron  had  made  the  people  nak  ed  by  the  golden  calf  at  Sina 
(Ex.  xxxii.  25)  ;  or,  as  Ahaz's  sin  made  Judah  naked 
(II  Chron.  xxviii.  19).  The  third  is,  that  hearing  that 
sound  once  so  gladdening  to  them,  "  The  voice  of  the  Lord 
God  walking  in  the  garden,"  they  were  afraid  and  hid  them- 
selves. The  fourth  is,  that  being  by  compulsion  brought  face 
to  face  with  Jehovah,  they  seek  to  evade  and  palliate  the  sin. 


THE    EDEN   GOSPEL.  05 

Thus,  then  J  tliis  creature  made  in  tlie  image  of  God — so 
glorious,  in  his  estate  of  creation  at  first,  as  the  new  com- 
])Ound  order  of  existence,  angel  and  animal  ;  so  blessed  in 
his  second  estate  of  covenant  with  God,  lies  fallen,  and  with- 
out hope,  in  this  his  tliird  estate. 

But  so  ordering  and  arranging  the  judgment  upon  the 
transgressors  that  the  tempter  should  not  for  a  moment  enjoy 
complete  triumph,  the  sentence  is  pronounced  first  upon  him : 
and  in  that  sentence  upon  the  tempter  is  embodied  the  ^\hole 
gospel  in  germ,  as  subsequently  revealed.  For,  as  I  now 
proceed  to  show  you,  just  as  the  oak,  in  germ,  is  in  the  acorn, 
so  all  the  gospel  system  is  in  this  sentence,  "  I  Avill  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed 
and  her  seed  :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise 
his  heel." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  on  careful  analysis  of  these  words, 
and  deducing  the  truths  embodied  by  implication  in  them, 
that  they  set  forth  these  eight  points  of  the  gospel  creed. 

1.  That  the  Redeemer  and  Restorer  of  the  race  is  to  be 
man^  since  he  is  to  be  the  seed  of  the  woman. 

2.  That  he  is,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  a  being  greater  than 
vian,  and  greater  even  than  Satan  ;  since  he  is  to  be  the 
conqueror  of  man's  conqueror,  and,  against  all  his  efforts,  to 
recover  a  sinful  world  which  man  had  lost ;  being  yet  sinless, 
he  must  therefore  be  divine. 

3.  That  this  redemption  shall  involve  a  new  nature^  at 
''  enmity  "  Avith  the  Satan  nature,  to  wliich  man  has  now 
become  subject. 

4.  That  tliis  new  nature  is  a  regeneration  by  Divine  power  ; 
since  the  enmity  to  Satan  is  not  a  natural  emotion,  but,  saith 
Jehovah,  "  I  will  put  enmity,"  &c. 

5.  This  redemption  shall  be  accomphshed  by  vicai-ious 
suffering;  since  the  Redeemer  shall  suffer  the  bruising  of  his 
heel  in  the  work  of  recovery. 

E 


60     THE    EDEN    COYENxVNT,    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

6.  Tliat  this  work  of  redcraption  shall  involve  the  gather- 
ing  out  of  an  elect  seed  a  "  peculiar  people  "  at  enmity  with 
the  natural  offspring  of  a  race  subject  to  Satan. 

7.  That  this  redemption  shall  involve  a  jj^erpe^it^Z  conflict 
of  the  peculiar  people,  under  its  representative  head,  in  the 
effort  to  bruise  the  head  of  Satan,  that  is,  ''  to  destroy  the 
works  of  the  Devil." 

8.  This  redemption  shall  involve  the  ultimate  triumph, 
after  suffering,  of  the  woman's  seed  ;  and  therefore  involves  a 
triumph  over  death  and  a  restoration  of  the  humanity  to  its 
original  estate,  as  a  spiritual  in  conjunction  with  a  physical 
Qature,  in  perfect  blessedness  as  before  its  fall. 

Such,  then,  is  the  gospel  theology  here  revealed,  in  germ, 
through  the  very  terms  of  the  curse  pronounced  upon  the 
destroyer  of  the  race.  It  will  be  seen  that  here  are  all  the 
pecuhar  doctrines  of  salvation,  by  grace,  which  every  Christian 
accepts,  who  exercises  the  faith  which  is  unto  salvation.  And 
in  the  broader  and  higher  sense  of  the  terms,  Moses,  as  truly 
as  Mark  at  the  opening  of  his  evangel,  might  have  prefixed  to 
this  third  chapter  of  Genesis  the  title,  "  The  beginning  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of  God." 

Observe,  then,  that  we  have  traced  man  through  three 
estates  up  to  this  point.  First ^  as  simply  a  perfect  creature, 
peculiarly  constituted,  under  the  natural  law  of  obligation  to 
his  Creator.  Second^  as,  under  a  special  covenant,  placed 
under  a  special  positive  law,  for  the  trial,  once  for  all,  of  his 
obedience.  Tliird^  as,  under  this  special  covenant  and  law, 
a  sinner  without  any  gospel  of  hope,  and  therefore  wholly 
subject  to  the  curse.  Now  we  have  next  presented  to  us,  in 
the  record,  man  the  creature,  the  covenanting  subject,  the 
sinner  under  the  curse,  in  a  Fourth  estate.  Henceforth  he 
is  man  the  sinner,  under  a  gospel  of  hope  and  salvation  held 
forth  to  his  faith.  Have  we  evidence  that  these  first  sinners 
comprehended  this  gospel  of  the  lost  Eden  and  accepted  it  by 
faith  ? 


EVIDEN-CES    OF    GOSPEL    FAITH.  67 

Boarlng  In  mind  what  lias  already  been  suggested  of  tlie 
brief  and  fragmentary,  yet  logical,  structure  of  this  record, 
wc  shall  find  evidence  that  they  not  only  comprehended  it, 
but  that,  also,  their  "  sorrow  of  the  world  that  worketh  death  " 
was  changed  to  a  "  Godly  sorrow  that  worketli  repentance  ;'* 
and  chat,  in  the  exercise  of  a  living  faith,  they  cast  their 
souls  upon  this  promised  Redeemer  for  salvation. 

The  first  evidence  of  this  faith  is  in  the  fact  that  vVdam 
now  called  his  wife's  name  "  Eve,"  the  ^'  life  ;"  and  that,  too, 
while  yet  were  echoing  in  his  ears  the  sentence,  "  Dust  thou 
art  and  unto  dust  shaltthou  return."  Before,  when  brought 
to  him,  he  had  named  her  after  himself;  he  being  named 
*'  Ish  " — the ''  man,"  she  was  called  "  Isha  "—the  ''  maness," 
or  woman.  And  why  should  he  now,  after  the  sentence  of 
death,  change  her  name  to  "  Eve,"  the  "  living  ?"  Evidently 
because  his  faith  has  apprehended  clearly  the  promise  of  life 
involved  in  the  promise  of  the  w^oman's  seed  to  bruise  the 
serpent's  head,  and  thereby  to  restore  the  life  which  sin  has 
forfeited. 

Another  evidence  of  faith  comprehending  the  promise  and 
referring  directly  to  it,  is  the  joyful  cry  of  Eve  over  her  first 
born — "  I  have  gotten  the  man,"  as  the  Hebrew  reads  *'  I 
have  gotten  the  man,  the  Jehovah:"  and  the  naming  him 
''  Cain,"  the  "Acquisition."  Evidently  with  a  clear  and  intel- 
ligent faith,  she  apprehended  the  promise  that  the  Redeemer 
should  be  of  the  seed  of  the  woman.  True  it  was  a  sadly  mis- 
taken application  of  the  creed,  led  astray  as  she  was  by  the  fond 
hopes  and  wishes  of  a  mother.  But  this  is  only  what  occurs 
to  the  strongest  and  most  intelligent  faith  of  thousands  of 
Christian  mothers  still,  who  rejoice  over  the  "  acquisition  '  of 
the  highest  blessing  in  the  son  of  fondest  hopes  and  highest 
expectations,  and  yet  find  him  become  an  apostate  and  a 
murderer.  Eve  calls  tlie  first  born  Cain,  "  the  acquisition," 
because  she  thinks  him  the  promised  Redeemer,  and  there- 


68     THE    EDEN    COVENANT,    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

fore  calls  the  second  born  "Abe',"  the  "vanishing" — sup- 
posing that  he  must  come  under  the  general  law  of  the  curse, 
"  Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return."  But, 
widely  mistaken  as  was  her  application  of  the  truth,  her  faith 
in  the  truth  itself  is  none  the  less  striking  and  remarkable. 

A  further  evidence  of  the  exercise  of  faith  by  these  first 
sinners  is  found  in  the  record  immediately  following  that  of 
the  judgment  upon  them,  implying  that  their  faith  found 
utterance  in  confession.  "  Unto  Adam  also,  and  to  his  wife, 
did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins."  This  implied  slaugh- 
ter of  the  animals  could  have  taken  place  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  sacrifice.  They  were  not  slain  for  food :  for  the 
grant  of  the  animals  as  food  for  man  was  not  made  till  after 
the  flood  in  the  revelation  through  Noah.  They  could  hardly 
have  been  slain  merely  to  obtain  their  skins  for  clothing :  for 
that  would  involve  an  altogether  anomalous  exercise  of 
Divine  wisdom  and  skill,  and  one  in  contradiction  of  God's 
usual  method  of  providing  for  the  attainment  of  his  ends  by 
the  simplest  means.  There  were  other  materials  in  abund- 
ance around  them  to  serve  the  purposes  of  clothing,  without 
the  infliction  of  death  upon  the  living  creatures.  The  only 
solution  of  the  statement  that  is  natural  and  probable  is,  that 
the  animals  ^vere  slain  in  sacrifice  ;  and  that  solution  is  abun- 
dantly verified  by  the  subsequent  history,  beginning  with 
the  sacrifice  of  Abel.  To  these  penitent  believers,  therefore, 
Jehovah  appointed  a  mode  of  confessing  their  faith,  by  a 
worship  that  set  before  them  vividly  the  great  fundamental 
truth,  just  revealed,  of  the  bruising  of  the  heel  of  the 
Deliverer  for  their  sins,  in  order  to  the  bruising  of  the  head 
of  their  destroyer.  Nor  can  we  conceive  of  anything  more 
profoundly  impressive  to  them  than  the  witnessing  the  death 
of  a  creature  for  the  first  time  in  the  world,  in  immediate 
connection  with  the  preaching  of  pardon  for  their  sins. 
"  Looking  upon  him  whom  they  have  pierced,"  through  the 


EVIDENCES  OF  GOSPEL  FAITH.        69 

dying  of  tlic  victim,  and  standing  at  tbc  altar  clad  in  tho 
covering  of  the  victim — thus  was  presented  to  them  "  Christ 
crucified,"  and  justification  hy  faith  in  his  atoning  sacrifice. 
That  such  was  the  nature  of  the  transaction  is  made  the  more 
evident  hy  the  fact  that  they  taught  Abel,  their  child,  also 
to  brinn;  "  the  firstlin<T;s  of  his  flock  and  the  fat  thereof." 

It  is  still  further  in  proof  of  such  an  understanding  of  the 
gospel  of  the  lost  Eden  that  not  only  was  a  worship  appointed 
to  them,  but  a  special  place  of  worship,  also,  with  the  visible 
symbols  of  Jehovah's  presence  to  accept  their  worship  and 
commune  with  them. 

In  the  very  infliction  of  punishment  upon  them,  there  is  a 
mingling  of  merciful  consideration  for  the  sinners,  at  their 
expulsion  from  Eden.  As  at  the  creation  of  man,  so  now, 
it  is  represented  to  have  been  a  matter  of  consultation  in 
heaven  :  "Behold  the  man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know 
good  and  evil :  and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand  and  take 
of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  forever :  therefore  the 
Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till  the 
ground,  whence  he  w^as  taken."  In  addition  to  the  reason  of 
fitness  and  propriety,  requiring  that  the  use  of  the  sacl'amental 
seals  of  the  covenant  should  no  longer  be  left  to  the  sinner 
after  the  covenant  is  broken,  a  reason  of  expediency  and 
mercy  is  suggested.  As  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  commu- 
nicated the  power  of  endless  existence  to  his  physical  nature, 
the  use  of  it  can  no  longer  be  allowed  to  a  creature  doomed 
to  return  to  dust ;  nor  would  its  use  be  other  than  the  inflic- 
tion of  a  curse,  in  dooming  him  to  live  forever  in  his  present 
sinful  and  sorrowful  condition.  It  adds  greatly  to  the  force 
of  this  record  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  tree  of  life  that  figures 
here,  in  the  opening  of  the  revelation  of  God,  figures  just  as 
conspicuously  again  at  its  close  in  the  visions  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. And,  in  the  latter  case,  it  appears  that  the  right  "  to 
eat  of  the  tree  of  life"  is  the  special  symbol  of  the  eternal 
restoration  in  heaven. 


70     THE    EDEN    COYEXANT,    GOSPEL    AND    WOKSIIIP. 

Within  full  view  of  the  garden,  therefore,  with  its  tree  of 
life,  Jehovah  sets  up  his  place  of  worship,  to  proclaim  to 
Adam  that  a  work  of  redemption  is  first  to  be  accomplished 
bj  the  woman's  seed  before  he  can  be  restored  to  his  original 
glory  and  the  right  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life. 

Though  banished  from  Eden,  he  is  not  banished  either 
from  the  view  of  Eden  or  from  the  visible  tokens  of  Jehovah's 
presence  :  into  which  presence  he  may  come  as  an  humble 
worshipper.  Though  the  record  informs  us,  "  so  he  drove  out 
the  man,"  it  informs  us,  also,  that  "  he  placed  at  the  east  of 
the  garden  of  Eden  Cherubims  and  a  flaming  sword,  which 
turned  every  way  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life." 

Some  commentators  suggest  that  the  reading  of  the 
original  here  may  be  "  Cherubim  and  the  gleaming  as  of  a 
sword ;"  and  that  the  intention  may  be  to  describe  the 
brightness  between  the  Cherubim,  as  the  intolerable  bright- 
ness of  a  sword  flashing  in  the  sunlight.  However  it  may  be 
read,  there  is  no  doubt  it  means  to  set  forth  the  fiict  that 
here,  at  the  east  of  Eden,  was  set  up  that  special  symbol  of 
Jehovah's  presence  which  afterward  was  exhibited  to  Abra- 
ham and  to  jNIosos  ;  which  after  the  same  manner  ^'  dwelt 
between  the  cherubim"  on  the  ark  of  the  covenant  in  the 
tabernacle  and  in  the  temple ;  which  shot  forth  the  fire  to 
consume  the  first  sacrifice  at  the  dedication  of  the  tabernacle, 
and  again  at  the  dedication  of  the  temple  ;  and  which  symbol 
was  seen  in  the  visions  of  Ezekiel,  as  the  fourfold  living  crea- 
ture, and  in  the  visions  of  John  in  the  Apocalypse. 

It  is,  indeed,  probable  that  the  brightness  between  the 
cherubim  at  Eden  may  .have  assumed  some  special  form 
of  appearance  to  express  the  prohibition  of  the  tree  of  life  ; 
but  its  significancy  was  of  the  merciful  presence  of  Jehovah, 
not,  according  to  the  popular  impression,  of  a  fierce  guards- 
man, sword  in  hand,  but  as  Jehovah  to  be  reverenced  and 
worshipped. 


TTTE    EDEX    ^VOIJSIITP    A XI)    CllUUrif.  /  I 

It  was  before  this  symbol  that  Abel  bronirlit  his  offering, 
and,  by  the  coming  fortli  of  the  brightness  to  consume  it,  he 
saw  that  "  Jeliorali  had  respect  unto  it."  It  was  from  this 
''  presence  of  the  Lord,"  that  Cain  "  went  out"  wlien  lie 
became  an  apostate. 

Thus  when  man  the  sinner  is  driven  out  of  Eden  and  no 
longer  allowed  to  "  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,"  it  is  not  to  utter 
hopelessness  and  irretrievable  doom.  Jehovah  not  only 
gives  him  ordinances  of  worship,  as  a  nurture  to  his  faith 
and  hope,  but  sets  up  for  him  the  symbols  of  his  own  presence 
to  commune  with  him  in  the  worship  on  earth.  And  in  this 
worship  of  penitence  and  faith,  under  the  new  covenant  of 
mercy,  man  is  taught  to  keep  perpetually  before  him  at  once 
the  tree  of  life  of  the  Eden  lost,  and  the  sacrifice  of  his 
Great  Deliverer's  sufferings  to  work  out  for  him  a  title  to  eat 
again  of  the  tree  of  life  in  the  Eden  restored,  and  that  in 
his  original  nature  as  the  compound  being,  both  spiritual 
and  physical,  when  the  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immor- 
tality. 

It  remains  noAV  only  to  complete  this  view  by  adding,  that 
as  there  was  a  worship  appointed  before  Jehovah's  presence, 
there  was  also  a  special  sacred  time  appointed  for  it ;  so  that 
in  his  cares  in  tilling  the  ground  and  his  weariness  from  hav- 
ing to  eat  his  bread  "in  the  sweat  of  his  brow,"  the  worship 
should  not  be  neglected.  "At  the  end  of  days,"  says  the 
Hebrew,  Cain  and  xlbel  brought  their  offerings.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  already  the  seventh  day  had  been  ordained 
of  God,  even  before  Eden :  that  we  find  the  division  of  time 
into  periods  of  seven  days  universal,  though  there  is  no  mark 
in  nature,  as  in  the  case  of  days  and  months  and  years,  for 
such  division  ;  and  that  subsequently  the  seventh  day  was 
thus  specially  reordained  of  God,  there  is  no  room  left  for 
doubt  that  tliis  "  end  of  days"  was  the  end  of  the  week — 


72     THE    EDEN    COVENANT^    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

the  Sabbath  clay — on  which  Adam  liad  taught  his  sons  to 
come  for  special  worship  before  Jehovah.* 

From  this  brief  and  necessarily  imperfect  survey,  in  out- 
line, of  the  Eden  story,  it  is  manifest  that  to  these  first 
sinners  a  gospel  of  salvation  was  revealed,  containing,  in 
germ,  all  the  great  distinctive  truths  of  the  Gospel  afterward 
developed  in  the  successive  covenants  of  the  "  sundry  times 
and  divers  manners,"  till  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
the  close  of  the  revelation  with  his  Apostles.  And  it  is  mani- 
fest also  that  these  first  sinners,  by  virtue  of  that  gospel, 
exercised  godly  sorrow  for  sin  and  faith  in  the  Redeemer. 

That  Abel  was  a  true  gospel  worshipper  the  Apostle 
expressly  declares,  saying,  '*  by  faith  /Vbel  oifered  unto  God 
a  more  excellent  sacrifice,  and  obtained  witness  that  he  was 
righteous,  God  testifying  of  his  gifts."  They  worshipped  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  Jehovah,  according  to  his  appointed 
ritual  ;  at  his  appointed  times.  In  short,  there  and  then 
began  the  visible  Church  on  earth,  composed  of  the  same 
materials,  antagonist  to  the  same  wickedness  and  apostasy 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  with  the  same  creed,  in  sub- 
stance, exercising  the  same  living  faith,  and  separated  as 
the  same  body  of  peculiar  people,  which  has  existed  in  the 
world  ever  since.  And  to  this  peculiar  people,  thenceforth 
through  all  the  ages,  and  not  directly  to  mankind  at  large, 
did  Jehovah  communicate  "  the  lively  oracles  of  God." 

In  order  to  apprehend  clearly  the  truth  of  this  general 
statement,  we  need  only  analyze  and  fix  definitely  in  our 
minds  the  popular  conception  of  the  Church,  as  an  existing 
fact,  and  compare  it  with  this  outline. 

Setting  aside  technicalities,  and  aiming  at  the  general 
popular  conception  of  the  Church,  rather  than  a  scientific 
description,  we  shall  find  these  to  be  the  elements  of  it : 


See  Appeurlix,  Note  A. 


THE    EDEX    WORSHIP    AND    CllURCU.  73 

First — As  to  the  materials  of  the  Church  on  earth ;  they 
are  sinners  under  conviction  of  sin  and  misery  seeking  to  flee 
from  the  wrath  to  come. 

Secondly — These  sinners  with  a  gospel  of  salvation  held 
forth  to  them  and  apprehended  by  faith,  and  thereby  called 
to  a  new  life. 

Thirdly — These  penitent  believers  constituting  an  organ- 
ized community,  under  special  covenant  with  God ;  with 
ordinances  for  nurture  in  holiness,  and  with  laws  and  govern- 
ment to  direct  them  in  spiritual  things,  and  to  separate  them 
from  opposing  powers  of  evil  in  the  earth. 

Fourthly — These  organized  penitent  believers  labouring  to 
call  in  unbelievers,  and  having  the  manifestations  of  the 
special  presence  of  Jehovah  among  them  to  accept  their 
w^orship,  bless  them,  and  give  them  success. 

Now  compare  this  popular  conception  with  the  elementary 
facts  just  developed  from  the  record  of  the  Eden  covenant — 
the  evidences  of  conviction  of  sin — of  a  clear  apprehension  of 
the  doctrines  embodied  in  the  promise, — '*  I  will  put  enmity," 
&c., — of  the  exercise  of  faith  in  the  promise — of  the  con- 
fession of  that  faith  in  worship — of  the  place  and  time  of  that 
worship  before  the  holy  symbols  of  Jehovah's  presence,  and  of 
the  conflict  immediately  begun  between  the  faithful  and  true 
worshippers  and  the  false  and  apostate  men  who  "  went  out 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  "  : — and  then  Avill  you  see 
that  it  is  not  by  the  mere  flight  of  a  creative  imagination, 
but  by  the  processes  of  a  very  rigorous  logic,  that  we  have 
thus  constructed  from  tliese  fragmentary  joints,  found  in  this 
old  record,  the  organism  of  the  gospel  creed,  the  covenant, 
the  worship,  and  the  visible  Church  of  tlie  lost  Eden. 

Nor  think  this  a  mere  curious  inquiry  into  the  religious 
views  of  a  fossil  age.  A  large  part  of  the  confusion  of  ideas 
which  unhappily  prevails  among  us,  concerning  both  tho 
Church  of  God  and  the  revelation  of  God  in  his  word,  arises 


74     THE    EDEN    COVENANT,    GOSPEL    AND    WORSHIP. 

from  a  failure  to  perceive  that  the  Church  began  with  the 
very  first  sinners  of  our  race,  and  that  the  gospel  began  to 
be  revealed  also  at  the  beginning  of  our  race.  The  Bible, 
therefore,  is  the  record  of  onlj  one  religion  ;  the  development 
of  one  and  the  same  way  of  salvation ;  and  is  the  history  of 
one  and  the  same  Church  from  first  to  last.  Therefore  it 
must  be  literally  true  that  "  all  scripture — all  alike,  is  the 
inspiration  of  God  " — and  all  ''  profitable  for  doctrine." 

As  it  is  impossible  rightly  to  comprehend  any  author  so 
long  as  we  have  utterly  misconceived  of  his  plan,  his  method 
of  utterance,  his  scope  and  aim,  so  it  is  equally  impossible 
to  comprehend  the  Bible,  so  long  as  we  have  these  vague 
ideas  of  it,  as  a  history  of  different  religions  and  of  different 
degrees  of  divine  authority.  It  is  one  gospel,  developed 
through  the  successive  covenants  which  God  made,  and  in 
exposition  of  which  he  spake  in  time  past  by  the  Prophets, 
then  by  his  Son  and  his  Apostles. 

And  this  view  of  it  brings  home  very  solemnly  the  Apostle's 
warning  to  us  who  enjoy  its  fullest  and  last  development.  If 
even  under  the  inferior  light  Abel  could  exercise  faith,  what 
excuse  can  we  plead  ?  If  under  even  that  light,  ''  every 
transgression  and  disobedience  received  a  just  recompense  of 
reward,  how  shall  we  escape"  ? 


DISCOURSE  lY. 

THE   GOSPEL   CHURCH  VISIBLE    SEPARATELY    ORGANIZED  ;    ITS 

COVENANT   CHARTER  WITH   ITS   SEAL  ;    ITS   CONSTITUENT 

ELEMENTS. 

Genesis  xvii.  4,  7,  10,  11,  13. — Behold  my  covenant  is  with  thee,  and 
thou  Shalt  be  a  father  of  many  nations.  And  I  will  establish  my  cove- 
nant between  me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  generations  for 
an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God  nnto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee. 
This  is  my  covenant,  which  ye  shall  keep  between  me  and  you,  and  thy 
seed  after  thee  ;  every  man  child  among  you  shall  be  circumcised  ;  and  it 
shall  be  a  token  of  the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you.  He  that  is  born  in 
thy  house,  and  he  that  is  bought  with  thy  money  must  needs  be  circum- 
cised, and  my  covenant  shall  be  in  your  flesh  for  an  everlasting  covenant. 

RoM.  iv.  11. — And  he  received  the  sign  of  circumcision,  a  seal  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had. 

Mark  x.  14. — Suffer  the  little  children  *  *  *  of  such  is  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven. 

Some  of  you,  my  brethern,  are  perhaps  ready  to  ask,  oii 
the  suggestion  of  such  a  topic  of  discourse  as  this  ; — "  Is  not 
our  religion  more  phiinly  revealed  to  us  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment? Why  then  this  reference  back  continually  to  the 
dimmer  light  of  the  Old  ?"  Plausible  as  seems  the  (piestion, 
the  fallacy  of  it  may  easily  be  detected  by  asking  another : — 
"  How  shall  we  be  able  to  understand  the  teaching  of  Jesu.s 
and  Paul  and  Peter,  if  we  study  not  the  Old  Testament  to 
which  they  continually  refer  as  containing  the  germinal  truths- 
of  which  their  teachings  are  but  the  outflowering  and  the 


70  COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

fruit?"  And  the  (juestion  is  specially  pertinent  as  relatinL^ 
to  this  covenant  with  Abraham.  The  obscurity  which  so 
commonly  exists  in  the  minds  of  the  people  concerning  the 
whole  question  of  the  visible  Church,  with  the  long  train  of 
practical  questions  growing  out  of  it,  arises  in  large  part 
from  oversight  of  this  passage  of  Old  Testament  history. 
Here,  midway  between  Adam  and  Christ,  stands  this  trans- 
action with  Abraham,  marking  as  distinct  an  era  in  the 
history  of  redemption  as  the  covenant  of  grace  with  Adam, 
the  first  natural  head  of  the  race,  and  the  covenant  Avith 
Noah,  its  second  natural  head,  guaranteeing  the  race  from  a 
second  destruction  by  water.  And  has  it  ever  occurred  to 
you  that,  in  all  subsequent  revelations,  so  much  greater  a 
prominence  is  given  to  this,  than  to  the  great  covenants 
w^ith  Adam  and  Noah  ?  The  number  of  references  to  it  are 
in  the  proportion  of  about  one  hundred  to  the  covenant  with 
Abraham,  against  some  eight  or  ten  to  those  with  Adam  or 
Noah.  And  still  more  remarkable  than  their  number  is  the 
character  of  these  references.  For  a  thousand  years,  until 
the  modification  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant  by  the  setting 
up  of  the  typical  throne  of  David,  the  very  title  by  which 
God  is  known  is  "  The  Grod  of  Abraham  ;"  and  this  covenant 
is  made  the  ground  of  his  dealing  with  the  people  of  Israel. 
Nay,  the  very  annunciation  of  the  coming  of  Christ  was 
liailed,  in  the  song  of  Mary  his  mother,  as  verifying  what 
^'  God  spake  to  our  fathers,  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  for- 
ever." And  Zacharias,  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  also  sang 
that  God  is  coming  "  to  remember  his  holy  covenant,  the  oath 
which  he  sware  to  our  father  Abraham,"  The  very  title  of 
the  first  gospel  is  "  The  book  of  the  generations  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  Son  of  Abraham^  The  appeal  of  Peter  to  the 
multitudes  after  the  Pentecostal  gifts  was  an  appeal  to  them 
as  "  the  children  of  the  covenant  which  God  made  with  our 


PROMIXENXE    OF    ABRAHAM    IN    SCUIPTURE.         /  / 

fathers  saying  unto  Abraliam,  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  kin- 
dreds of  the  earth  be  blessed."  Paul,  in  his  most  elaborate 
expositions  of  the  gospel  theology,  sets  out  this  covenant  ^Yith 
Abraham  as  a  great  germinal  part  of  the  scheme.  He  sets 
forth  Abraliam  himself  as  the  great  representative  man,  like 
Adam  and  Noah,  standing  as  head  and  father  of  the  faith- 
ful of  all  nations,  when  he  received  the  sign  of  circumcision 
a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faitli  which  ho  had. 

Now  whence  the  prominence  to  the  covenant  with  Abraham  ? 
The  answer  will  be  fouiid  in  a  summary  statement  of  the  record 
here  taken  in  connection  with  the  preceding  and  subsequent 
history.  Anterior  to  this  era  the  protracted  period  of  human 
life — the  life  of  one  patriarch,  or  head,  extending  over  many 
centuries — rendered  it  unnecessary,  and,  indeed,  hardly  pos- 
sible, that  either  of  the  two  divine  ordinances  for  society,  the 
state  or  the  Church,  should  exist  as  organizations  apart  from 
this  third  divine  ordinance  of  the  family  which  was  first  of 
all  appointed.  Now  that  the  contraction  of  the  days  of  man 
on  earth  leaves  no  longer  one  natural  head  by  precedence 
of  age  and  paternal  right  entitled  to  govern  the  tribes 
descended  from  him  ;  of  necessity  states,  governments,  under 
chosen  rather  than  natural  heads  must  be  instituted  ;  and,  by 
force  of  the  same  fact,  the  body  of  the  redeemed  "  seed  of 
the  woman  "  must  be  organized  as  a  government  also,  distinct 
from  the  family.  Hence  it  is  that  here,  midway  betAvecn  the 
first  gospel  promise  of  a  Redeemer  in  Eden  and  the  glorious 
fulfilment  thereof  in  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  stands 
the  covenant  with  Abraham.  It  involves  all  that  was  involved 
in  the  covenant  of  grace  with  Adam,  and  the  covenant  of 
security  to  the  race,  and  the  line  of  descent  in  Shem,  made 
with  Noah  ;  but  proceeds  to  organize  the  people  which  shall 
be  gathered  under  those  covenants  into  a  visible  body, 
distinct  both  from  the  family  and  the  state,  and  separated 


78     COVEXAXT  CIIAETER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

from  the  rest  of  mankind.  As  to  its  component  elements, 
the  church  had  indeed  existed  from  the  first  by  virtue  of  the 
enmity  put  between  the  chosen  and  the  reprobate  seeds.  But 
henceforth  the  chosen  are  visibly  and  formally  set  apart  to 
become  the  special  visible  body  of  Messiah,  among  whom,  and 
through  whom,  the  covenant  of  grace  shall  have  its  adminis- 
tration. 

Just  as,  in  the  history  of  creation,  the  light  is  the  result 
of  the  great  creative  fiat  of  the  first  day  ;  yet  midway 
between  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  creation  stands  the 
act  of  the  fourth  day,  organizing  the  sun  as  the  light  bearer  in 
the  heavens  for  the  illuminating  of  the  earth  ;  so  though  the 
elements  of  the  Church  visible  began  Avith  the  case  of  the 
first  sinner  and  the  worship  of  Eden,  yet  midway  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  work  of  redemption  stands  this  covenant  with 
Abraham,  organizing  the  elements  into  a  visible  Church  of 
God  ;  henceforth,  under  the  very  law  of  its  being  constituted 
the  agent  for  the  diffusion  of  divine  light  in  the  world.  All 
subsequent  covenants  are  but  the  further  confirmation  and 
elucidation  of  this. 

That  this  account  of  the  matter  is  correct  will  appear  from 
a  few  general  considerations — all  that  can  be  presented  within 
the  brief  limits  of  such  a  discourse. 

1.  If  we  undertake  to  inquire  into  the  origin  of  the  visible 
Church,  as  an  existing  phenomenon,  in  its  pecuHar  separate 
organization  for  spiritual  purposes,  with  government,  officers, 
ordinances  and  sacramental  seals,  we  shall  find  that  it  has 
not  originated  at  any  period  since  the  Apostles  of  Christ.  If 
v/e  ask  them  concerning  its  origin,  they  refer  us  back  to  Jesus 
Christ  who  commissioned  them.  Did  it  then  originate  with 
Jesus  when  on  earth  ?  No !  for  he  claims  that  all  his  doctrines 
are  but  the  developments  of  Moses  and  the  prophets  which 
he  came  to  fulfil.  Did  it  originate  then  with  Moses  ?  No,  he 
declares  that  he  came  to  this  singular  people,  in  Egypt,  with 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    SEPARATE    CHURCH    GOVERNMENT.    79 

a  message  to  fulfil  and  furtlicr  develop  a  scheme  previously 
revealed  to  Abraham,  and  found  the  covenant  people  already 
organized,  to  whose  recognized  heads,  the  elders,  he  presented 
his  commission  to  be  verified.  But  now,  when  we  take  a  step 
further  back  in  the  inquiry,  and  come  to  Abraham,  we  find 
no  longer  any  references  pointing  us  still  backward, — l)ut 
here  stands  the  peculiar  transaction  constituting  him  the 
"  father  of  many  nations  "  under  an  "  everlasting  covenant  '* 
with  a  special  seal.  Properly  enough  we  conclude  that  we 
have  now  reached  the  source  and  origin  of  tlie  phenomenon 
concerning  which  we  inquire.  And  this  the  more  especially 
that  nowhere  else,  as  we  have  traced  the  history  backward, 
have  we  found  anything  like  a  divine  charter,  or  covenant, 
creating  this  singular  and  evidently  divine  organization. 

For  surely  no  Christian  can  conceive  that  such  a  govern- 
ment, whose  uninterrupted  existence  can  be  historically  traced 
back  at  least  a  thousand  years  beyond  that  of  the  oldest 
governments  in  the  world,  could  have  been  self-originated,  or 
a  mere  accident,  or  incident  in  tlie  world's  history  ! 

2.  An  examination  of  the  terms  of  the  transaction  shows 
clearly  that  it  must  have  been  intended  to  record  some  new 
and  peculiar  relation  to  Jehovah,  of  this  Abraham  the  believer, 
and  his  descendants  and  their  households.  The  promise  here 
to  be  a  God  to  him  and  his  seed  could  not  have  meant  simply 
a  covenant  for  his  personal  salvation ;.  for  this  had  been 
assured  to  him  before  when  "he  believed  God,  and  it  was 
accounted  to  him  for  righteousness."  Nor  can  it  mean  to  be 
a  covenant  of  natural  blessings  to  his  natural  descendants, 
for  in  the  covenant  are  included  the  household,  embracing 
servants  and  all ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  many  of  his  des- 
cendants, as  the  families  of  Ishmael  and  Esau,  had  no  birth- 
right in  this  covenant.  The  Apostle  Paul  expresses  it  fully 
by  declaring  that  in  this  covenant  Abraham  was  "  the  heir  of 
the  world,''  and  the  representative  of  all  who  in  all  ages  after 


80  COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

should  exorcise  the  faith  of  Abraham.  If  so,  then  the  cove- 
nant to  be  their  God,  and  to  make  them  a  blessing  indicates  a 
purpose  specially  to  dwell  among,  and  manifest  himself  to, 
this  peculiar  body,  and,  through  it,  to  manifest  his  grace  to 
the  nations.  In  short  here  are  all  the  elements  of  a  defini- 
tion of  the  visible  Church  ;  and  this  is  the  beginning  of  that 
pecuhar  society  as  a  separate  visible  body  on  earth. 

3.  Nor  is  this  charter  ever  to  be  annulled.  It  is  "an 
everlasting  covenant."  And  though  we  grant  that  the  term 
everlasting  may,  at  times,  be  used  in  a  limited  sense,  such 
cannot  be  the  case  here ;  for  its  blessings  are  to  reach  to 
all  generations  of  him  who  is  the  representative  father  of  the 
faithful.  Under  this  charter  Moses  may  develop  the  theo- 
cratic commonwealth,  and  David  the  theocratic  kingdom,  and 
these  may  pass  away  again — but  still  the  covenant  charter  is 
not  annulled.  Just  as,  under  the  covenant  of  grace,  the  great 
fact  of  justification  by  faith  may  be  exhibited,  now  in  the 
simple  sacrifices  of  Adam  or  Abel  or  Noah,  or  now  in  the 
elaborate  ritual  of  Moses,  or  now  in  the  simple  ordinances  of 
the  New  Testament,  without  thereby  annulling  or  even  impair- 
ing that  covenant ;  so  in  the  case  of  this  great  charter  cove- 
nant of  the  Church.  If  the  doctrine  of  a  sinner's  justification 
is  not  affected,  as  to  its  essential  principles,  by  changes  of  the 
mode  of  presenting  it,  so  neither  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
by  any  modification  of  its  forms  under  different  dispensa- 
tions. 

This  covenant  with  Abraham  is,  therefore,  the  diviiae  char- 
ter of  the  visible  Church  as  heretofore  and  still  existing. 
There  is  no  other  charter  found  in  scripture.  This  is  the 
chartered,  visible  society,  "  the  Church,"  in  which  "  God  set 
some  Apostles,  some  prophets,  some  pastors  and  teachers," 
under  the  New  Testament  dispensation — for  there  was  no 
otlier  church  organized  in  which  .to  set  them.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  Apostle  (in  Romans  iii.  29,  and  in  iv.  11=17,  and 


CHARTER  AND  SEAL  STILL  THE  SAME  IN"  SUBSTANCE.    81 

in  Gal.  iii.  7-9)  expressly  declares,  that  the  New  Testament 
Church  of  believers  is  the  true  successor  to  the  covenant  with 
Abraham.  Nay  (in  Rom.  xi.)  he  expressly  argues  that  the 
rejection  of  the  Jewish  body,  and  the  reception,  under  the 
covenant,  of"  all  that  believe"  with  Abraham,  is  only  as  the 
cutting  off  one  set  of  branches  from  the  olive  tree  and  ingraft- 
ing others.  It  is  still  the  same  tree,  but  the  currents  of  its 
life  are  partially  directed  to  a  new  channel. 

All  this  will  appear  still  more  plainly  if  we  proceed  now  to 
consider  the  nature  and  significancy  of  the  seal  to  this  cove- 
nant. In  some  of  the  covenants  made  with  men,  Jehovah 
alone  binds  himself  to  perform,  after  the  manner  of  a  vaitten 
covenant  among  men,  simply  to  pay  or  to  do  on  the  one  part. 
But  in  this  covenant  with  Abraham,  as  afterwards  with  the 
Passover  covenant,  the  transaction  is  of  that  sort  in  which 
both  parties  must  bind  themselves  by  signature  and  seal  to 
the  engagement.  Accommodating  himself  to  that  habit  of 
thought  among  men  which  regards  their  interests  as  more 
secure  when  not  left  to  contingencies,  or  future  questions  of 
doubt  about  the  construction  of  the  promise,  and  therefore, 
close  the  transaction  by  solemn  covenant,  signed  and  sealed, 
behind  which  they  need  not  go  for  evidence  ;  so  Jehovah,  in 
these  covenants,  not  only  binds  himself  but  calls  upon  the 
beneficiaries  of  the  covenant  to  enter  into  engagements  with 
him,  signed  and  sealed  by  an  external  act.  The  seal  is  so 
devised,  also,  as  to  express  by  symbol  the  nature  of  the 
blessings  covenanted.  With  a  view  to  that  native  tendency 
of  a  heart  conscious  of  sin  to  doubts  and  confusion  of  ideas 
about  the  terms  of  salvation,  he  ordains  that  all  the  blessings 
promised  shall  be  expressed  in  form  of  a  solemn  covenant, 
with  an  external  seal  to  be  attached,  symbolizing  the  nature 
of  these  blessings,  behind  which  covenant  the  doubting  soul 
need  not  go  to  look  for  evidence  of  title  to  his  favour.  And 
he   calls  upon  them,  moreover,  to  come,  generation  after 

F 


82  COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

generation,  and  affix  this  seal  as  a  perpetual  reminder  of  the 
terms  of  the  covenant,  and  their  engagement  under  it. 

This  is  the  origin  and  ratmnale  of  the  two  sacraments  of 
the  Church.  Thej  are  ordinances  of  worship  in  which  the 
minister,  standing  forth,  as  Jehovah's  attorney,  presents  the 
instrument,  and  behevers  come  forward  and  sign  by  affixing 
the  appointed  seal  thereto.  In  the  one  covenant,  made  with 
Abraham  as  representing  all  the  faithful,  which  organises  the 
believers  as  Jehovah's  peculiar  body  of  people,  they  come  for 
ward  and  covenant,  on  their  part,  to  be  his  people,  and  to 
live  as  such  by  the  aid  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  In  the  other, 
made  with  this  organized  Church  through  Moses,  he  covenants 
to  redeem  them  by  vicarious  atonement,  and  they  covenant 
to  rely  upon  that  atonement  for  spiritual  nurture  here,  and 
life  hereafter. 

But  w^as  not  this  seal  annulled  in  the  New  Testament  ? 
Did  not  the  Apostles  resist  strenuously  those  who  insisted  on 
continuing  it  ?  No,  it  was  changed  as  to  its  form,  but  not 
annulled  ;  just  as  the  seal  of  the  covenant  to  redeem  the- 
Church  by  vicarious  atonement — the  passover  seal — w^as 
changed  in  form  but  not  annulled.  And  in  both  cases  the 
change  of  form  involved  no  change  of  the  ideas  symbolized  by 
the  seal.  As  the  sense  of  the  passover  covenant,  expressive 
of  faith  in  the  atoning  blood  of  the  Lamb  from  a  prophetic 
stand-point,  in  eating  the  flesh  and  sprinkling  the  blood,  was 
modified  to  express  faith  in  the  atoning  blood  from  a  historic 
stand-point,  by  eating  the  bread,  symbolizing  the  broken  body, 
and  drinking  the  wine,  symbolizing  the  shed  blood  of  the 
Lamb  of  God ; — so  circumcision,  the  seal  of  the  covenant 
with  Abraham  organizing  the  Church,  was  changed — from  the 
act  symbolizing,  from  a  prophetic  stand-point,  faith's  longings 
and  hopeful  trust  in  divine  power  for  the  cutting  off  the  sins 
of  the  flesh — to  the  act  of  washing  with  water,  symbolizing, 
from  a  historic  stand-point,  faith  contemplating  the   divine 


CHARTER  AND  SEAL  STILL  THE  SAME  IN  SUBSTANCE.    83 

power  to  regenerate  and  puriiy,  given  in  tlie  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit. 

The  opposition  of  the  Apostles  to  the  continuance  of  the  old 
seal  was,  manifestly,  not  on  the  ground  that  there  is  no  longer 
any  seal,  but  that  the  seal  has  been  changed  in  form,  and 
therefore  the  old  can  signify  nothing,  or,  if  it  is  held  to  have 
any  significance,  must  in  that  far  derogate  from  the  signifi- 
cancy  of  the  new. 

That,  just  as  the  Lord's  Supper  is  simply  a  New  Testament 
modification  of  the  passover  seal  of  the  covenant  through 
Moses  to  redeem  the  Church  by  his  blood,  so  the  ordinance 
of  baptism  is  but  the  New  Testament  modification  of  the  seal 
of  circumcision  appended  to  the  covenant  with  Abraham 
organizing  the  visible  Church  ;  that  this  covenant  is  the  divine 
charter  under  which  the  Apostles  acted  in  modifying  the  form 
of  the  Church,  when  the  Church  of  one  nation  is  now  to  become 
the  Church  of  all  nations  ;  that  baptism  and  circumcision,  as 
seals,  both  have  the  same  import,  however  unlike  as  to  exter- 
nal forms,  and  both  symbolize  the  same  truth  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  the  regenerator  and  sanctifier  of  Jehovah's  people — 
these  are  facts  that  no  careful  and  intelligent  reader  of  the 
New  Testament  will  call  in  question.  If  baptism  is  not  the 
seal,  there  is  no  seal ;  and,  consequently,  no  such  covenant 
to  express  the  relation  of  Christ  to  his  visible  Church,  and  of 
his  Church  to  him,  which  is  involved  in  the  w^ords,  "  I  will  ])e 
a  God  unto  thee  and  thy  seed  after  thee."  But  the  whole 
course  of  the  apostolic  argument  went  to  the  point  that,  so  far 
from  annulling  the  old  charter,  the  new  order  of  things  under 
the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  fulfills  the  old  covenant ;  and 
its  charter  privileges  are  the  more  firmly  established.  The 
Apostle  Paul  expressly  interprets  the  covenant  promise  "  I 
will  make  thee  a  father  of  many  nations,"  to  mean  that 
Abraham  was  hereby  constituted  the  representative  head  of 
all  who  shall  believe  as  he  believed.     The  very  silence  of  the 


84  COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

New  Testament  or  its  merely  incidental  reference  to  the 
question  of  the  organization  of  the  visible  Church,  shows 
plainly  that  the  Apostles  regarded  that  matter  as  already 
provided  for ;  and  that  the  Church  needed  no  new  charter  of 
organization  but  simply  a  modification  of  form  under  the  old 
charter,  to  meet  its  new  position  in  the  history  of  redemption. 

That  baptism  is  understood  to  take  the  place  of  circum- 
cision as  the  sacramental  seal  of  the  covenant  which  organizes 
and  perpetuates  the  Church,  and  is  of  the  same  spiritual  sig- 
nificancy,  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that,  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  circumcision  becomes  the  figurative  expres- 
sion for  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  renewing  the  nature  ; 
precisely  as  baptism  becomes  the  figurative  expression  for  the 
regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost  under  the  New  Testament 
dispensation.  (Compare  Deut.  x.  16  and  xxx.  6 ;  Lev.  xxvi.  41 ; 
Rom.  ii.  29  and  iv.  11 ;  Phil.  iii.  3  ;  Col.  ii.  11-13).  Nay, 
more,  the  Apostle  uses  the  two  interchangeably  as  expressions 
for  the  same  spiritual  idea,  and  expressly  declares  baptism 
to  be  circumcision;  so  that,  in  every  form  of  uttering  thought, 
the  identity  of  the  two,  both  in  purpose  and  significancy,  is 
set  forth. 

Thus  it  will  be  perceived,  that  the  marked  peculiarity  of 
this  Abrahamic  covenant  is  in  bringing  into  view  the  body  of 
the  elect,  as  provided  for  in  the  covenant  of  grace  with  Adam, 
not  simply  as  the  external  manifestation  of  the  ideal  of  that 
covenant,  but,  at  the  same  time,  as  an  actual  institute  for  the 
calling  and  training  of  the  people  of  God.  From  this  time 
forward,  through  the  entire  revelation,  the  visible  Church  is 
set  forth  as  an  organized  society,  with  a  government  estab- 
lished in  it ;  externally  called  to  the  privilege  of  receiving 
the  oracles  of  God,  and  of  being  specially  under  the  charge 
of  Jehovah  as  his  peculiar  body  of  people  ;  the  special  benefi- 
ciary of  his  promises,  and  enjoyipg  the  special  agency  of 
his  Holy  Spirit.     It  is  not  limited  to  those  who  are  actual 


FAMILY   REPRESENTATION    IN    THE   CHURCH.       85 

believers.  It  is  Jehovah's  vineyard,  -vv ell-hedged,  indeed, 
but  oftentimes  having  vines  therein  that  produce  only  -wild 
grapes.  It  is  Jehovah's  garden,  well  cared  for,  and  well 
tilled,  but  in  which  there  may  be  barren  fig  trees.  It  is  the 
wheat  field  which  the  husbandman  has  carefully  sown  with 
wheat,  yet  in  which  the  enemy  sow^s  tares  to  grow  up  with 
the  wheat.  It  is  a  great  not,  as  an  instrument  in  the  hand 
of  Jehovah  for  gathering  his  people  out  of  the  great  depths 
of  a  world  of  sui  ;  but  the  very  operation  by  which  he  gathers 
the  good  must,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  gather  the  bad  also. 
It  is  a  sheaf  of  choice  wheat  in  his  threshing-floor,  from  which 
the  chaff  is  yet  to  be  Avinnowed.  It  is,  in  short,  a  body 
called  out  of  the  world,  yet  in  which  many  more  are  called 
than  are  chosen. 

This  brings  us  now  to  the  fundamental  question  of  the  coii- 
stituent  elements  of  the  society  organized  by  this  covenant 
charter  to  Abraham.  You  will  observe,  that  a  principle 
common  to  all  the  covenants  pertaining  to  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion, namely,  the  principle  of  family  representation,  stands 
out  here  with  peculiar  prominence.  While  the  scriptures, 
everywhere,  especially  guard  us  against  the  error  of  suppos- 
in;2;  that  the  blcssino;s  of  salvation,  accordiniz;  to  the  covenant 
of  grace,  have  respect  to  natural  descent,  or  that  men  born 
again,  are  born  "  of  blood,  or  of  the  w411  of  the  flesh,  or  of  the 
will  of  man,"  or  any  other  than  "  born  of  God  ;"  yet,  on  the 
othsr  hand,  special  prominence  is  given  to  the  fact,  that  in 
the  out-working,  in  time,  of  the  scheme  of  redemption,  the 
children  of  those  who  are  themselves  parties  to  the  covenants 
of  God  have  a  birthright  to  the  privileges  and  the  penalties 
of  those  covenants.  Thus,  by  virtue  of  the  penalty  of  tlie 
broken  covenant  of  works  with  Adam,  every  child  born  of  the 
race  of  Adam  is  born  to  die.  By  virtue  of  the  covenant  of 
redemption  with  Christ,  as  the  second  Adam,  every  mortal 
that  dies  must  rise  again  from  the  dead.    Under  the  co\'enant 


8G     COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  Till:  CHURCH. 

of  grace  -with  Adam,  Avhen  there  was  to  be  a  destruction  of 
the  race  by  water,  God  said  unto  Noah,  "  come  thou  and  all 
till!  house  into  the  ark,  for  thee  have  I  seen  righteous ;"  and 
for  the  righteousness  of  Noah,  even  the  apostate,  scoffing 
Ham,  is  sheltered  from  the  impending  doom.  Under  the 
covenant  with  Noah,  not  to  destroy  again  with  a  flood,  every 
child  descended  from  Noah  to  the  end  of  time  has  a  birthright 
in  that  guarantee  promise.  Under  the  covenant  with  David, 
his  male  offspring,  in  every  succeeding  generation,  had  a 
birthright  claim  to  the  throne  of  Israel,  to  which  even  then' 
unfaithfulness  could  prove  no  bar ;  the  reason  assigned  for 
not  rejecting  the  unworthy  apostates,  as  Saul  was  rejected, 
is — "  the  oath  which  I  swear  to  David."  You  will  perceive 
how,  in  several  careful  repetitions,  that  principle  is  made  to 
stand  forth  pre-eminently  in  this  covenant  Avith  Abraham. 
His  children,  in  successive  generations,  are  recognized  as 
having  a  birthright,  not  only  in  its  general  privileges,  but  as 
born  members  of  the  great  visible  community  which  this 
covenant,  as  a  charter,  founds  and  organizes :  and  it  is  com- 
manded that  they  be  formally  recognized  as  citizens  by  birthy 
by  afiixing,  through  their  parents  for  them,  their  signature, 
and  the  seal  to  this  covenant.  And  so  intimate  a  part  of  the 
structure  is  this  principle,  that  no  matter  what  extent  of 
meaning  be  given  to  the  covenant,  this  principle  must  go  into 
that  meaning  ;  and  no  matter  what  enlarged  degree  of  develop- 
ment of  the  covenant,  this  principle  must  go  into  that  develop- 
ment. Here,  then,  far  back  at  the.  very  root  of  the  visible 
Church,  and  fundamental  in  its  charter,  we  find  the  rights  of 
our  children  to  a  place  with  us  in  the  Church,  as  Christ's 
spiritual  commonwealth.  Just  as  really  and  truly  are  they 
born  citizens  of  the  visible  commonwealth  of  Christ,  as  they 
are  born  citizens  of  the  commonwealth  of  the  United  States, 
or  of  Great  Britain.  In  both  cases  the  exercise  of  their 
rights  is  held  in  abeyance  for  a  time  :    in  the  one  case,  until 


FAMILY  Ki:rui:s;::>:TATu.)x  ix  TiIi:  ciRaaii.     o7 

God's  grace  brings  them  to  majority  spiritual,  and  prepares 
them  to  exercise  their  rights  as  full  citizens  ;  in  t!ie  other  case, 
until  natiirr  brings  tiiem  to  majority  and  prepares  them,  by 
years  and  intelligence,  for  the  exercise  of  their  rights  as 
citizens.  Indeed,  the  differcnco  between  the  theory  of  the 
visible  Church  that  makes  its  constituent  elements  individual 
believers  only,  and  the  theory,  derived  from  the  Abraharaic 
covenant,  that  the  Church  consists  of  believers  and  their 
children — its  believers  representing  famihes — is  precisely 
analogous  to  the  difference  between  the  Continental  Jacobin 
theories  of  the  state  as  composed  of  individuals  only,  who  have 
surrendered  certain  personal  rights,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon 
theory  of  Britain  and  America,  that  the  State  is  constituted 
of  men  as  representing  families  either  in  esse  or  in  j^osse. 

To  those,  therefore,  who  demand  of  us,  "  where  is  the 
explicit  command  of  the  New  Testament  for  the  recognition 
of  our  children  as  members  of  the  visible  Church  ?"  it  is  suffi- 
cient response,  if  we  choose  to  rest  the  question  there — ''where 
is  the  charter  in  the  New  Testament  organizing  a  visible 
Church  ?"  If  we  find  the  original  charter,  in  this  covenant 
with  Abraham,  still  recognized  in  the  New  Testament  as  the 
charter  of  the  Church,  then  the  inevitable  conclusion  is  that 
the  provisions  of  the  original  charter  as  to  what  are  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  the  visible  Church  are  also  recognized, 
unless  something  expressly  to  the  contrary  is  declared.  The 
true  statement  of  the  issue  in  controversy  is — "  where  is  the 
command  in  the  New  Testament  changing  the  fundamental 
constitution  of  the  Church  and  excluding  the  children  from 
it?" 

With  this  view  of  the  case  before  us,  we  are  prepared  to 
comprehend  the  profound  significance  of  the  story  how, 
among  the  few  occasions  on  which  Jesus  manifested  indig- 
nation and  something  like  bitterness  in  the  language  of 
rebuke,  one  was  that  in  which  his  disciples  officiously  inter- 


88  COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

posed  to  thrust  away  from  him  parents  coming  with  their  chil- 
dren for  his  blessing.  The  disciples  thought  it  an  impertinence 
of  parental  fondness  to  be  troubling  the  Master,  in  the  midst 
of  his  labours  of  heahng  and  teaching,  Avith  the  little  ones  who 
could  not  appreciate  his  blessing.  But  "  he  was  indignant," 
says  the  Evangehst,  and  said  "  Suffer  the  little  children  to 
come  unto  me  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  king- 
dom of  God."  And  after  blessing  the  children,  he  turned  in 
rebuke  to  his  disciples — just  as  on  another  occasion,  he 
turned  upon  the  Pharisees  their  contempt  for  pubilcans,  in 
the  remark  ''  the  publicans  and  harlots  shall  go  in  before  jou  " 
— and  severely  remarked  to  them  "  think  you  that  children 
have  no  interest  in  the  matter  ?  I  tell  you,  unless  ye  become 
like  them  ye  shall  not  yourselves  enter  the  kingdom." 

That  "  of  such  is  the  kingom  of  Heaven  "  in  the  sense  of 
the  Church  on  earth,  which  is  his  kingdom,  may  readily  be 
understood  in  view  of  the  foregoing  argument ;  and,  there- 
fore, I  pass  by  that  view  of  the  subject  to  offer  a  few  sugges- 
tions, in  conclusion,  upon  the  significancy  of  the  saying  as 
relating  to  the  real  kingdom  of  God,  the  Church  of  the 
redeemed  in  heaven,  of  which  the  visible  Church  is  a  repre- 
sentative shadow. 

And  I  desire  the  more,  in  this  connection,  to  point  out  the 
grounds  upon  which  those  of  us  who  hold  firmly  by  the  doc- 
trines of  the  covenant,  both  of  grace  and  of  the  Church's 
organization,  rest  our  confidence  of  the  salvation  of  our  dead 
children,  as  part  of  the  kingdom  of  God — because,  from  this 
point  of  view,  we  may  more  easily  detect  the  fallacies  of  the 
three  popular  errors  on  this  subject,  arising,  severally,  from 
the  three  corruptions  of  the  truth,  viz. :  that  of  Romanism, 
which  makes  their  salvation  depend  upon  their  baptism, — of 
Rationalism,  which  makes  it  depend  upon  their  freedom  from 
the  taint  of  sin, — and  that  of  tha  popular  perversion  of  the 
doctrines  of  grace  which,  assuming  their  salvation  as  a  mere 


THE  DEAD  CHILDREN  ALL  SAVED.       89 

opinion,  makes  it  an  argument  against  those  doctrines — 
especially  against  the  points  of  original  sin,  and  the  election 
of  grace — that  these  imply  the  damnation  even  of  little 
children. 

From  >vhat  we  have  shown  of  the  nature  of  baptism,  as  the 
seal  of  the  charter  covenant  of  the  visible  Church,  you  may 
at  once  discern  the  error  of  the  Papists,  which  perverts  that 
which  is  simply  a  seal  of  the  covenant  into  a  channel,  and 
the  only  channel  of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  precisely 
as  the  Pharisees,  whom  John  the  Baptist  and  Jesus  rebuked, 
made  the  old  sense  of  circumcision,  not  a  simple  seal  of  the 
covenant  of  the  external  Church,  but  a  channel,  and  the  only 
channel  of  grace  unto  salvation.  Assuming  that  baptism 
makes  them  Christians,  instead  of  declaring  their  birthright 
in  the  privileges  of  the  covenant  mercy,  both  Papal  and  semi- 
Papal  sacramentalists  turn  the  children  who  die  without  tliis 
sacrament  awa}^  from  Heaven.  Hence,  also,  the  folly  of  the 
Papal  and  semi-Papal  error  of  applying  to  the  dying  child  the 
seal  that  has  significance  only  for  the  child  that,  it  is  hoped, 
will  live  in  the  visible  Church. 

Rationalism,  in  all  its  forms,  rejecting  the  anterior  covenant 
of  grace,  of  which  this  is  a  development,  and  denying  the 
fact  of  the  native  sinfulness  of  the  race  as  a  race,  for  which 
sinfulness  this  covenant  of  grace  was  a  provision,  rests  the 
opinion — for  it  can  amount  to  nothing  more  than  an  opinion, 
— that  the  dead  children  are  all  saved,  on  the  ground  that, 
dying  before  moral  action,  they  are  not  sinners,  and  need  no 
regeneration. 

The  orthodox  creeds  of  the  Reformed  churches  all  assert 
that  "  in  Adam  all  die  "  spiritually  ;  and  that,  represented  in 
him,  every  creature  born  of  Adam  is  guilty  before  God,  and 
born  with  a  depraved  nature  ;  but  that  the  electing  love  of  God 
hath  purposed  a  restoration  of  part  of  the  guilty  race,  and 
that  part  are  by  the  grace  of  God,  renewed,  justified,  and 


90     COVENANT  CIIAKTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

received  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Popular  clamour,  led  on 
by  noisy  demagoguism  in  theology,  insists  that  such  a  theory 
excludes  from  heaven  even  the  children  who  cannot  believe 
and  be  saved,  except  it  be  such  as,  without  regeneration,  and 
by  virtue  merely  of  the  election  of  God,  are  accepted  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Hence  the  silly  slanders,  to  the  effect 
that  Calvinists  have  written  and  preached  of  "  infants  in  hell 
a  span  long."  A  preaching  which  none  of  the  reporters, 
however,  have  ever  themselves  read  or  heard  ;  but  only  have 
it  in  most  cases  from  some  one,  who  heard  some  one  else  say, 
that  he  remembered  to  have  heard  his  father,  or  some  old 
man  say,  that  his  grandfather  had  heard  it  reported  of  some 
iron-sided  Calvinist  that  he  so  wrote  or  preached  !  And  yet 
all  this  in  the  face  of  the  notorious  fact  that  the  men  who 
have  written  most  of  the  words  of  consolation  for  parents 
bereaved  of  their  little  children,  are  those  whom  the  creeds 
of  the  Reformation  have  taught  to  expound  the  gospel.  To 
whom  do  English-speaking  mourners  go  in  their  sorrow  over 
their  dead  children  ?  To  the  volumes  of  Smythe  of  Charles- 
ton, or  of  Rice  and  Prime  of  New  York,  or  of  Macfarlane  or 
Gumming  or  Harris  of  London,  or  of  Russel,  or  Cuthbert,  or 
John  Brown,  or  Grosart,  of  Scotland, — Calvinists  all  of  them, 
of  the  sturdiest  stamp.  Or  if  we  turn  to  the  great  expos- 
itors of  scripture — with  the  exception  of  a  few  divines,  who, 
laying  great  stress  on  the  covenant  of  God  in  Baptism,  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  he  makes  no  distinction  in  this  regard  between 
the  covenant  children  and  the  children  of  the  heathen  and 
infidels — we  find,  from  Calvin  himself  forward — Sibbs,  Willet, 
Henry,  Scott,  and  their  successors — all  Calvinists — expound- 
ing tho  scriptures  in  this  sense. 

Nor  is  this  a  curious  incidental  fact  merely.  For  it  can 
easily  be  shown,  that,  on  no  other  theory  of  the  gospel  than 
this  of  the  Reformed  creeds  can  any  argument  be  founded 
to  demonstrate,  logically,  the  salvation  of  the  dead  children. 


THE    DEAD    CITTLDREX    ALL    SAVED.  91 

All  other  views  of  the  matter  can  oflfor  nothing  hotter  than 
the  opinions  of  wise  and  good  men.  Such  opinions  may 
satisfy  the  curious,  the  speculative,  or  the  tlioughtless ;  hut,  in 
the  dark  hour  of  sorrow,  ''  Rachel,  weeping  for  her  children, 
refuses  to  ho  comforted  "  with  mere  ojnnioiis.  Faith  must 
point  to  a  divine  rock  on  which  the  feet  may  he  planted,  as 
the  waves  of  the  tempest  heat  over  the  soul ! 

The  Calvinistic  creed,  or  more  pro}X)rly  the  creed  of  the 
Reformation,  on  this  subject,  reasons  with  the  old  epitaph  on. 
the  grave-stone  over  the  three  dead  children  : — 

"  Say,  arc  they  lost  or  saved  ? 
If  Dcath'r,  by  sin,  they  sinnSd  for  they  lie  here  : 
If  heaven's  by  Avorks,  in  heaven  they  can't  appear: 

Ah  Reason,  how  depraved  ! 
Revere  the  sacred  page,  the  knot's  untied : 
They  died,  for  Adam  sinned — they  live,  for  Jesus  died." 

But  we  will  be  told  that  this  argument  apphes  only  to  elect 
infants.  For  docs  not  the  confession  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land say  "  elect  infants  dying  in  infancy?"  And  is  not  that 
as  good  as  saying,  some  of  them  arc  not  elect?  True,  but 
docs  it  not  seem  curious  to  argue  that  if  one  says  he  has  a 
number  of  choice  lambs  in  his  fold  he  therefore  means  to  say 
that  he  has  some  that  are  not  choice  ?  But,  again,  where  is 
this  clause  found  in  the  confession  ?  In  the  third  article  that 
treats  of  the  elect  and  the  non-elect  ?  No  !  but  in  the  tenth 
article,  ''  of  eflfectual  calling."  Having  declared  that  the 
chosen  of  God  are  called  by  the  Word  and  Spirit,  and 
quickened  by  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  answer  the  call— the 
question  laaturally  occurs — "  But  how  then  with  those  who 
die  before  they  can  apprehend  and  accept  the  call  of  the 
Word?"  The  confession  proceeds  to  declare  that  suclr  are 
regenerated  in  virtue  of  the  atonement,  without  the  call  of 
the  word,  by  "  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  worketh  when  and  where 
and  how  he  pleaseth:"  therefore  the  infants  elect  are  saved,. 


92  COVENANT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

just  as  adults  are,  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  securing  their  gra- 
cious renewal.  Strange  that  the  very  article  that  declares 
how  infants  are  saved,  should  be  cited  as  evidence  of  belief 
that  infants  are  lost ! 

Biit  why  then  use  the  qualifying  term  "  elect  ?"  Why 
not  say  '•  all  infants  dying  in  infancy  are  saved  ?"  For  two 
reasons  very  sufficient.  First,  it  would  have  been  logically 
out  of  place  here,  as  introducing  another  subject  than  that  of 
hotv  the  elect  are  saved,  which  is  the  topic  in  hand, — not  tvho 
are  the  elect  ?  which  had  been  defined  elsewhere.  Secondly, 
the  Confession  makes  no  declarations, — being  a  confession  of 
faith, — not  directly,  or  by  immediate  inference,  declared  in 
scripture.  And  the  scriptures  being  intended  for  those  only 
who  can  understand  them,  and  to  declare  to  such  the  terms 
of  their  salvation,  and  the  grounds  of  their  hope  and  com- 
fort, without  gratifying  curiosity, — nowhere  expressly  declare, 
in  direct  terms,  that  all  infants  shall  be  saved  :  while  they  do 
declare  that  the  elect  of  God,  adults  and  infants  alike,  shall 
be  saved  through  the  effectual  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
AYhen  the  Bible  stops  speaking,  the  Confession  always  stops ; 
just  as,  when  the  Bible  speaks,  the  Confession  fearlessly  speaks, 
whether  men  will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear — nay, 
even  though  they  mock  at  and  malign  it. 

But  does  not  this  imply,  contrary  to  what  has  been  said, 
that  the  Bible  does  not  teach  the  salvation  of  all  the  dead 
children  ?  Not  at  all.  For,  while,  in  virtue  of  its  great  prin- 
ciple of  reserve  on  all  points  of  curious  inquiry,  it  makes  no 
such  direct  statement,  yet  it  furnishes  abundant  grounds  of 
comfort  and  assurance  to  the  soul  in  sorrow  earnestly  search- 
ing for  it. 

What  are  the  grounds  of  comfort  ?  I  can  noAv  only  present 
them  in  suggestive  outline,  to  guide  such  as  desire  to  search 
the  scripture  for  them. 

The  aro-ument  is  threefold.      From  the  analogy  of  faith. 


THE  DEAD  CHILDREN  ALL  SAVED.       9.> 

From  the  nature  of  the  future  existence,  as  presented  in 
scripture.  And  from  statements  of  scripture  directly  in 
reference  to  this  point. 

First,  —There  is  nothing  in  the  grounds  or  conditions  of 
salvation,  as  stated  in  the  gospel,  to  interpose  a  barrier  to  our 
belief  in  the  salvation  of  all  the  dead  children.  It  is  not  on 
account  of  "  works"  which  they  could  not  do  ;  and  though 
salvation  is  by  faith,  yet  it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  faith  as 
a  work  of  the  sinner.  They  may  be  saved,  therefore,  simply 
"  by  grace  "  as  adults  are,  and  therefore  can  sing  with  them 
the  same  eternal  song  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb,  who  washed  us 
in  his  own  blood." 

Second, — Neither  is  there  anything  in  the  method  of  salva- 
tion, by  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  renewing,  to  contra- 
vene this  belief.  For  though  he  w^orks  through  the  word  in 
the  case  of  those  who  believe,  he  works  without  the  word  also,, 
saith  the  confession,  "when  and  where,  and  how  he  pleaseth," 
and,  therefore,  may  regenerate  the  infant  without,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  adult,  working  through  the  word. 

Third, — Neither  is  there  any  ground  of  difficulty  in  the 
sovereign  electing  love  of  God.  For  just  as  the  effectual  call,, 
and  the  offer  accepted  by  the  sinner,  proves  him  to  be  one  of 
•Jie  elect ;  so  the  call  of  the  infant  by  Jesus,  away  from  the 
trouble  and  sin  to  come,  fnay  prove  it  to  be  one  of  the  elect. 

Fourth, — Neither  is  there  any  ground  for  supposing  the 
dead  children  excluded  from  heaven,  by  reason  of  the  doctrine 
that  they  are  of  a  guilty  and  depraved  race  ;  since  the  guilt 
in  any  case  is  removed  by  the  atoning  blood  of  Jesus,  justi- 
fying the  sinner,  and  procuring  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  all  for  nothing  in  the  saved  moving  him  thereto,  but  only 
of  his  own  free  sovereign  love  ;  thus  putting  the  adult  and  the 
infant  upon  the  same  level  as  to  claim  for  grace. 

Fifth, — As  there  is  no  ground  in  the  analogy  of  faith  to 
deny,  so  there  is,  on  the  contrary,  much  from  which  to  affirm,. 


94     COYEXxVNT  CHARTER  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CIIURCn. 

the  salvation  of  infants  dying  in  infllnc3^  Thus  infants  dying 
because  Adam  sinned,  also  rise  from  the  dead  because  Christ 
has  risen.  "As  they  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly,  so 
shall  they  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly."  As  certainly  as, 
by  some  relation  to  Adam's  sin  they  die,  so  certainly,  by  some 
relation  to  Christ  in  his  work  as  Mediator,  every  one  of  them 
that  dies  shall  burst  forth  from  the  grave,  and  "  the  mortal 
put  on  immortality."  If,  then,  by  virtue  of  the  relation  to 
Christ,  that  half  of  the  curse  is  removed  which  relates  to  their 
physical  nature,  why  not  infer  that,  on  the  same  ground  of 
sovereign  grace,  the  other  half  is  removed,  which  relates  to 
their  spiritual  nature  ? 

Sixths — And  this  seems,  again,  to  receive  direct  confirma- 
tion by  the  Apostle's  declaration  in  reference  to  the  first  and 
second  Adam,  "  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more 
abound."  For,  if  we  count  the  aboundings  of  grace  only  in 
the  numbers  of  adult  sinners  saved,  this  statement  seems  not 
to  be  realized.  The  aboundings  of  sin  in  every  age,  so  far, 
exceed  vastly  the  aboundings  of  grace.  But  it  puts  another 
face  on  the  statement,  when  we  conceive  of  the  dead  children 
as  all  called  by  Jesus  Christ  to  himself.  More  than  one-third 
of  the  race  die  under  two,  and  more  than  one-half  of  the  race 
under  five  years  of  age.  If  these  are  counted  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  we  set  out,  in  our  estimate  of  the  abounding 
of  grace,  with  over  half  the  race  redeemed  in  infancy,  and  to 
these  add  the  millions  that,  since  Adam,  have  accepted  the 
call !  And  when  Ave  have  conceived  of  the  vast  majority  thus 
gathered  out  of  two  thousand  generations, — then  we  may 
begin  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  Apostle's  saying,  "  where  sin 
abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound !" 

Seventh, — This  view  is  again  confirmed  by  all  those  scrip- 
tures which  describe  the  vast  numbers  of  the  redeemed  in 
heaven.  It  is  "a  great  multitude  ^that  no  man  could  number." 
It  is  ^'  out  of  every  nation  and  kingdom,  and  tongue," — and 


THE    DEAD    CIIILDREX    ALL    SAVED.  95 

of  course,  therefore,  out  of  some  tribes  that  have  not  ])een 
cvangehzed,  and  who  can  be  represented,  therefore,  only  by 
their  infants  gathered  in  infanc3^  It  is  to  be  understood  also, 
relatively  to  the  number  not  saved,  and  to  the  whole  number 
of  the  race  ;  and  must,  therefore,  include  the  dead  children. 

Ei(jlitli^ — To  these  general  views  must  be  adckd  the  argu- 
ment from  the  scripture  account  of  the  retribution  of  the 
future  for  the  lost.  This  retribution  is  generally  described  in 
a  manner  to  exclude  the  dead  children,  since  it  is  made  to 
have  reference  to  the  moral  actions  of  the  doomed.  The 
condemnation  is  on  the  ground  that  "  they  loved  darkness 
i*athcr  than  light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil."  Their 
judgment  is  "  according  to  their  works."  Their  retribution 
is  the  reaping  of  a  harvest  of  evil  action  in  life.  "  lie  that 
soweth  to  the  flesh,  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption." 
''  What  a  man  soiveth^  that  shall  he  also  reap."  And  so  of 
multitudes  of  scriptures.  A  chief  element  of  the  retribution 
is  to  be  the  memory  of  sins  done — none  of  which  things  can 
be  predicated  of  the  future  existence  of  the  dead  children. 

Ninth, — With  the  argument  cumulating  thus  at  every  suc- 
cessive step  of  the  view  of  the  analogy  of  faith,  and  the  direct 
statements  of  scripture  concerning  the  nature  of  the  future 
state,  we  come  now  to  the  express  declarations  of  scripture 
touching  children,  and  their  relations  to  the  everlasting 
kingdom.  Even  in  the  Old  Testament,  with  its  very  limited 
statements  concermng  the  existence  after  death,  wo  find 
David  saying  of  his  dead  child,  "  I  shall  go  unto  him,  but  he 
shall  not  return  unto  me."  This  must  mean,  I  shall  go  unto 
him  Avhither  he  is  gone,  into  "  His  presence  where  is  fulness 
of  joy  and  blessings  for  evermore."  Since  there  was  no  com- 
fort in  the  thouglit  that  he  would  go  to  him  Ln  his  grave,  any 
more  than  in  the  like  fact  that  he  should  go  to  Absalom  in  the 
grave.  Besides,  David  indulges  in  no  such  truisms  as,  "I 
shall  also  go  to  the  grave."     And  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that 


this  hope  of  the  salvation  in  this  case,  was  of  a  child  of  sin, 
who  could  liave  little  ground  of  claim  by  reason  of  the  faith 
of  his  backslidden  and  apostate  father.  It  is  also  of  a  child 
that  had  not  received  the  sacrament  of  circumcision,  having 
died  before  the  eighth  day,  the  time  appointed  by  the  lav7  for 
the  sacrament,  and  therefore  his  salvation  was  independent  of 
the  sacrament,  contrary  to  the  Papal  notion. 

So  the  poor  Shunamite  mother  could  say  by  faith  "  it  is 
well  with  the  child,"  though  she  had  deft  his  corpse  in  the 
prophet's  chamber. 

Tenths — We  find  moreover,  in  the  Old  Testament,  the  same 
special  claim  to  the  children,  as  peculiarly  his  own,  which 
Jesus  sets  up  for  them  in  the  New  Testament ;  and  the  same 
special  indignation  at  the  heartlessness  which  repelled  them, 
as  incompetent  to  enjoy  the  spiritual  blessings  of  immortality. 
Saith  Jehovah  by  Ezekiel  (xvi.  21,)  in  his  terrible  wrath  at 
the  horrible  offerings  of  the  children  in  idolatrous  sacrifices — 
''  They  have  slain  my  children,  causing  them  to  pass  through 
the  fire."  Thus  laying  claim  to  them  as  his  peculiar  posses- 
sion. So  also  in  Jeremiah  (xb:.  4,  5)  in  reference  to  this 
same  cruel  practice, — "  They  have  filled  this  place  with  the 
blood  of  innocents  ;"  and  therefore  he  gives  utterance  to  his 
specially  hot  displeasure. 

In  the  New  Testament  I  need  only  refer  you  to  the  very 
explicit  declaration  of  Jesus,  "  SuSer  the  little  children^-of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  which,  you  will  find,  the 
more  it  is  studied  in  connection  with  his  indignation  at  the 
disciples,  and  with  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  in 
its  two-fold  aspect,  as  the  Church  on  earth  and  the  Church 
of  the  redeemed,  the  more  you  will  be  impressed  with  the 
utter  folly  of  supposing  him  to  mean  simply  that  adults  must 
be  simple  and  artless  like  little  children  to  enter  heaven  ; 
or,  indeed,  anything  short  of  meaning  that,  in  the  plan  of 
redemption,  the  children  are  specially  provided  for,  both  in 


THE  DEAD  CHILDREN  ALL  SAVED.       97 

the  kingdom  on  earth,  the  Church  visible,  and  in  the  king- 
dom above,  the  redeemed  Church.  * 

Eleventh^ — As  putting  the  cope-stone  upon  this  argument, 
thus  cumuhiting  at  every  step,  I  must  refer,  though  it  be  in  a 
word,  to  the  express  declaration,  that  in  the  vision  of  the  great 
day,  «Tohn  "  saw  the  dead  small  and  great — in  the  sense  of 
little  ones  and  full  grown,  as  well  as  of  humble  and  high 
position — stand  before  God."  And  that  he  saw  also,  corres- 
ponding to  this  fact,  "  the  hooks  opened,  out  of  whicli  the 
dead  were  judged,"  "  according  to  what  was  written  in  the 
books."  "  And  another  Book  zvas  opened,  tJie  hook  of  life  ;"' 
which  can  be  understood  in  no  other  way  so  clearly,  as  in  the 
supposition  of  three  classes  at  the  judgment, — bcHevers  and 
unbelievers,  who  were  judged  according  to  their  works,  out 
of  the  two  books,  and  the  little  ones,  who  had  done  no  works, 
were  recorded  in  a  third  book  specially  appropriated  to  such 
— a  book  of  life  (see  Revel,  xx.  12). 

Such  are  the  general  grounds  of  our  faith  concerning  the 
children  who  die.  I  have  discussed  this  question — though  not 
of  immediate  connection  with  the  great  covenant  charter 
and  its  provisions  for  the  children  who  live,  rather  than  the 
children  who  die — because  of  the  favourable  stand-point  for 
such  discussion  secured  by  the  exposition  of  the  covenant  and 
the  nature  of  its  seal ;  and  because  the  perversion  of  this 
seal  has  led  to  the  cruel  doctrine  of  Rome  concerninn;  the 
children  dying  unbaptized.  Nor  is  the  evil  confined  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  :  but  OAving  to  the  vague  and  uncertain  views 
with  which  a  Romanizing  Protestantism  permeates  the  popular 
mind,  even  many  excellent  Protestant  Christians  are  led  to 
misuse  the  sacrament  of  Christ  by  applying  to  a  child,  hecause 
it  is  dying,  and  going  to  the  church  above,  the  seal  which 
recognizes  its  rights  as  living  in  the  visible  Church  on  earth, 
and  as  such  has  all  its  significance.  I  mean  not  to  say  that 
the  seal  of  the  covenant  is  not  to  be  applied,  irrespective  of 

a 


98     COVENANT  ClIARTEK  &  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

the  question  of  life  or  death  ;  but  only  that  the  prospect  of 
death  should  not  be  the  special  ground  and  reason  for  apply- 
ing an  external  seal  which,  primarily,  contemplates  the  subject 
of  it  in  the  relation  of  a  member,  by  birthright,  of  the  visible 
Church  on  earth.  And  the  use  of  the  sacrament,  in  a  manner 
to  suggest  the  approach  of  death  as  a  ground  for  its  use,  tends 
only  to  propagate  and  confirm  the  error  among  the  Protestant 
masses,  that  the  baptism  makes  the  child  a  Christian  ;  whereas 
the  baptism  is  but  the  solemn  declaration  officially  that,  under 
the  terms  of  the  charter  covenant  of  the  Church,  the  chikben 
of  believers  are  born  members  of  the  visible  Church. 

Such,  then,  is  the  origin  of  this  remarkable  body,  organized 
a  visible  government  on  earth  separate  from  all  other  social 
organizations.     This  is  the  kingdom  not  of  this  world.     Here 
it  has  stood  for  near  four  thousand  years ;  while  all  other 
governments  coeval  with  its  origin  have  not  only  perished, 
but  the  very  records  and  traditions  of  them  have  almost  passed 
from  men's  knowledge.     Well  might  Jehovah  speak  of  this 
kingdom  as  an  everlasting  kingdom  ;  and  call  him  now  Abra- 
ham,   "  the   high  father  of  a  multitude."     You  perceive, 
therefore,  brethren,  that  not  only  the  gospel  existed  and  was 
preached  long  before  the  incarnation,  but  the  gospel  Church 
also  existed.     And  this  peculiar  spiritual  government,  into 
which  you  and  your  children  are  called  now,  is  one  and  the 
same  with  that  four  thousand  years  ago.     ''  The  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it."     You  may  understand  now,  what 
has  perhaps  puzzled  you  before,  why  so  little,  comparatively, 
is  said  of  the  Church  and  its  constitution  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment.    It  is  not  at  all  because  the  Cliurch  was  not  divinely 
organized,  or  that  the  question  of  the  Church  is  a  matter  of 
indlfterence,  as  some  would  have  it,  and  no  essential  part  of 
the  gospel  of  redemption ;  but  simply  because  there  was  no 
call  to  organize  and  give  a  constitutional  charter  to  a  Church 
in  tlie  New  Testament.     That  had  been  done  two  thousand 


THE    TRUE    AGE    OF    THE    CnURCII    ORGANIZATIOX.    90 

years  before.  Jesus  came  as  a  minister  of  that  Church ; 
became  a  member  of  it  by  his  birth,  and  was  formally  recog- 
nized as  a  member  of  it,  just  as  the  children  are  how.  His 
disciples  were  members  of  this  same  Church ;  and  after  the 
work  of  redemption  was  completed,  instead  of  setting  up  a 
Church  for  the  first  time  or  even  a  new  Church,  they  simply 
modified  its  forms  of  worship  and  government  to  adapt  them 
to  the  new  order  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  For,  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  the  ancient  forms  of  worship  having 
been  those  of  a  prophetic  faith  must  now  change  into  forms 
suited  to  a  historic  faith.  And  just  as  the  government  had 
changed  from  the  patriarchal  to  that  by  the  chosen  elders, 
under  the  covenant  with  Abraham ;  so  under  the  apostles 
such  a  modification  occurred  as  suited  the  Church  of  all 
nations,  now  that  it  is  no  longer  the  Church  of  one  nation. 
Therefore  so  little  is  said  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  nystakc  which  so  confuses  men's 
views  of  this  question  of  the  Church  arises,  very  largely,  from 
that  miscalled  '•  Hifjh-Churcldsm,^'  which  is  but  just  half  A /y/« 
enoiujli ;  since  it  refers  the  origin  of  the  separate  visible 
Church  to  a  period  just  half  way  back  in  its  history ;  and 
looks  for  the  Church's  charter,  as  a  visible  organized  govern- 
ment, where  there  is  none,  but  simply  a  modification  of  its 
ordinances  and  government  to  adapt  it  to  a  now  phase  of  the 
work  of  redemption.  ''  The  Church  of  the  living  God,  the 
pillar  and  the  ground  of  the  truth"  is  an  essential  element  of 
the  scheme  of  redemption,  and  has  existed  since  men  began 
first  to  be  redeemed.  And  as  a  separated  visible  government, 
'^  though  not  reckoned  among  the  nati'ons,"  the  Church 
bc'2;an  as  soon  as  men  be;2;an  to  or<i;anize  states  as  distinct 
from  family.  * 

♦  See  Appendix,  Note  B. 


SECTION  11. 


EEDEMPTION  AS  REVEALED  IX  THE  LAWS  ANI>  ORDINANCES 
OF  THE  THEOCRATIC  ERA. 


DISCOURSE  V. 


THE  SIGNIFICANCE  THEREOF. 

Exodus  xii.  3,  7,  U,  14. — Speak  unto  all  the  congregation  of  Israel,  say- 
ing, In  the  tenth  day  of  this  mouth,  they  shall  take  unto  them  every  man 
a  lamb  according  to  the  house  of  their  fathers,  a  lamb  for  an  house,  &c. 

And  they  shall  take  of  the  blood  and  strike  it  on  the  two  side  posts,  and 
on  the  upper  door  post  of  the  houses. 

And  thus  shall  ye  eat  it ;  with  your  loins  girded,  your  shoes  on  your  feet 
and  your  staff  in  your  hand ;  and  ye  shall  eat  it  in  haste  ;  it  is  the  Lord's 
passover.  For  I  will  pass  through  the  land  of  Egypt  this  night,  and  will 
smite  the  first-born,  &c. 

And  the  blood  shall  be  to  you  for  a  token  on  the  houses  where  ye  are : 
and  when  I  see  the  blood,  I  will  pass  over  you,  and  the  plague  shall  not  be 
upon  you  to  destroy  you,  when  I  smite  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Luke  xxii.  15,  20. — With  desire  I  have  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with 
you  before  I  suffer.  For  I  say  unto  you  I  will  not  any  more  eat  thereof 
until  it  be  fulfilled  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

This  cup  is  the  New  Testament  in  my  blood  which  is  shed  for  you. 

I  Cor.  v.  7,  8, — For  even  Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us  ;  there- 
fore let  us  keep  the  feast  not  with  old  leaven,  &c. 

AssUxMiNG,  my  brethren,  that  jou  are  all  familiar  with  the 
details  of  the  story  of  the  boudage  in  F.gypt ;  of  Moses'  call 
from  the  desert,  his  mission  and  message:  of  the  wonders 
whereby  he  has  at  once  visitCil  judgment  upon,  and  sought  to 
bring  Pharaoh  and  Egypt  to  submission  and  obedience, — I 


102  THE  PASSOVER  COVENANT  OF  REDEMPTION. 

desire  now  to  fix  your  attention  upon  the  consummation  of  all, 
in  the  formal  covenant  of  deliverance  made  here  with  this 
peculiar  body  of  people,  organized  by  the  previous  charter 
covenant  with  Abraham,  as  those  of  whom  Jehovah  is  specially 
the  God,  and  they  specially  his  peoj)le. 

If  I  take  occasion  frequently  to  remind  you  that  the 
method  of  God's  revelation  is  by  a  successive  series  of 
covenants,  each  a  fuller  development  of  the  germinal,  first 
covenant,  and  of  all  that  precede  it ;  this  is,  because  I  would 
have  you  hold  fast  the  clue  which  should  guide  you  to  the 
right  interpretation  of  the  book,  and  guard  you  against  most 
of  the  difficulties  that  have  been  raised  with  the  record  by 
many  learned  interpreters  ;  who,  with  very  obscure  ideas  of 
the  Gospel  revealed  in  the  first,  or  indeed,  in  any  of  the 
covenants,  and  with  little  experience  of  its  power,  find  mere 
learning  and  natural  genius  unequal  to  the  task  of  rightly 
interpreting  the  oracles  of  God. 

The  summary  of  the  historic  facts  here  shows  this  to  be  a 
covenant  transaction.  On  the  part  of  Jehovah,  a  statement 
and  exposition  of  a  certain  blessing  of  redemption  from  cruel 
bondage  has  been  made^  which  statement  here  is  put  into  the 
form  of  a  covenant.  And,  as  before  he  called  upon  Abraham 
to  enter  into  the  instrument  with  him,  by  an  external  act, 
affixing  his  seal  thereto,  and  saying,  ^'  This  is  my  covenant, 
every  male  shall  be  circumcised,  and  it  shall  be  a  token 
betwixt  me  and  you ;"  so  now,  appointing  the  shedding  and 
sprinkling  of  blood,  he  declares  "  The  blood  shall  be  to  you 
for  a  token."  This,  therefore,  is  a  covenant  of  a  sacramental 
nature  ;  and,  after  the  method  of  the  former  covenant,  a  seal 
is  appointed  to  be  affixed  thereto,  which  seal  itself  is  formed 
to  be  a  symbol  of  all  the  great  truths  and  blessings  stipulated 
in  the  instrument. 

Looking  backwapd,  and  compai-ing  this  with  the  previous 
covenants  of  Jehovah,  we  shall  find  this  to  embrace,  and  bring 


TTS    SIGXIFIC.VNCE    AX!)    liKI. ATIOXS.  103 

out  more  clciirly,  the  truths  aii<l  blossiii^.s  of  tliosc  that  pre- 
ceded it.  Tlie  enmity  and  struggle  l)etweeu  tlie  two  seeds, 
of  his  Eden  covenant,  here  stand  Icrth  strongly,  in  the 
hostilit}'  of  Egypt  to  Jehovah  and  cruelty  to  his  chosen. 
The  hraising  of  the  liccl,  in  the  sufferings  endured  hy  the 
chosen  seed  ;  and  the  bruising  of  the  head  in  the  overwhelm- 
ing judgment  upon  Pharaoh.  The  theology  of  the  sacrifice 
of  blood,  revealed  in  Eden,  now  i-eappears  in  the  blood  of 
the  lamb  slain  and  sprinlded.  The  promise  of  the  covenant 
-with  Noah,  securing  the  descent  of  tlie  blessing  to  the  line 
of  Shem,  liere  appears  in  the  body  of  his  descendants  selected 
as  special  objects  of  divine  favour.  The  provisions  of  the 
charter  covenant  with  Abraham,  organizing  the  descendants 
of  Israel  as  a  visible  Church,  here  appear  actually  fulfilled, 
in  not  only  a  vast  body  of  people,  but  that  body  organized, 
as  the  congregation  to  which  Moses  speaks,  and  that  too  with 
its  elders  already  executing  their  office  of  rule  ;  to  whom  he 
came  at  first  with  his  credentials  from  Jehovah,  and  to  whom 
as  i-epresenting  the  congregation  he  now  repeats  the  com- 
mand of  Jehovah. 

And  as  looking  backward,  we  find  this  covenant  a  further 
development  of  all  that  precedes,  so,  looking  forward,  we 
perceive  that  this  again  is,  in  turn,  a  germ  to  be  developed 
by  those  which  follow  it.  In  what  we  may  call,  by  proper 
restriction  of  the  sense,  its  political  aspect,  the  body  here 
covenanting  with  Jehovah  is  at  once  the  numerous  body  of 
his  seed,  through  Isaac,  fulfilling  the  covenant  with  Abraham 
organizing  them  as  a  people  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  is  the 
germinal  nation,  which,  in  the  covenant  with  David,  shall  be 
organized  as  the  typical  khigdom  of  ^Icssiah,  representing 
the  future  kingdom  to  be  gathered  out  of  all  nations,  in  which 
and  over  which,  Jesus  shall  rule  through  all  successive  ages. 
In  its  spiritual  aspect,  as  a  theological  and  ritual  revelation, 
we  perceive  at  once  that  it  is  the  germ  of  that  great  New 


104    THE    PASSOVER    COVENANT    OF    REDEMPTION. 

Testament,  or  new  covenant,  transaction  between  Jesus  and 
the  representative  disciples  which  developed  this  to  its  pro- 
phetic earthly  fulfillment ;  and  in  view  of  which,  on  "  that  dark 
and  doleful  night,"  in  Jerusalem,  Jesus  said  :  "  With  desire  I 
have  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with  you  before  I  suffer  ; 
for  I  will  not  any  more  eat  thereof  until  it  be  fulfilled  in  the 
kingdom  of  God."  And  therefore,  he  modified  the  seal  of 
this  covenant,  adapting  the  seal  to  the  new  aspect  of  it,  as  no 
longer projyJietic  but  Jiistorio,  by  commanding  "  Eat  this  bread 
which  is  my  body,  and  drink  this  cup,  which  is  the  new 
covenant  of  my  blood  shed  for  many  ;"  "  And  do  this, — no 
longer  by  faith,  in  prophetic  anticipation,  but  by  faith  histori- 
cally,— in  remembrance  of  me."  So,  accordingly,  wo  find  the 
apostle,  under  the  new  dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  declaring 
that  in  the  new  seal  of  the  old  covenant  we  still  have  held 
forth  the  same  truths  and  blessings  of  the  old  covenant,  "  For 
Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for  us,  therefore  let  us  keep 
the  feast  (the  Lord's  Supper)  not  with  the  old  leaven,"  etc. 
The  substance  of  the  record  here,  is  therefore,  this  :  That 
as  before  Jehovah  entered  into  a  sacramental  covenant  with 
Abraham,  by  which  his  descendants,  through  Isaac,  were 
organized  into  the  visible  Church  of  God,  and  this  covenant 
has  now,  in  the  progress  of  four  hundred  years,  had  its  fulfill- 
ment so  far  as  that  Israel  has  here  become  an  organized  body 
of  two  or  three  millions,  but  is  suffering  under  cruel  bondage : 
so  he  now  enters  into  a  special  covenant  to  redeem  it,  as  a 
peculiar  people  to  himself,  from  this  bondage  ;  constituting 
the  whole  as  a  typical  representation  of  the  great  deliverance 
of  his  redeemed  from  the  bondage  of  Satan.  And  as  before, 
so  now,  he  calls  upon  them  to  enter  into  the  sacramental 
instrument  with  liim  by  afiixing,  every  one,  the  seal  thereto. 
And  he  frames  a  seal,  according  to  the  method  of  all  his 
sacramental  covenants,  Avhicli  shall  itself  symbolize  the  great 
truths  and  blessings  stipulated  in  the  covenant,  namely,  their 
redemption,  for  the  sake  of  vicarious  atonement  by  blood. 


ITS    SIGMFICANCR    AND    RELATIONS.  105 

These  ,2;eneral  facts  lie  so  plainly  upon  the  surface  of  the 
record,  from  the  call  of  Moses  to  the  close  of  this  passover 
transaction,  as  to  need  no  detailed  exposition.  I  therefore 
pass  on,  directly,  to  the  consideration  of  the  great  truths  of 
this  covenant,  as  symbolized  in  the  seal  affixed  of  slaying  and 
eating  the  paschal  lamb,  and  sprinkling  the  blood  ;  and  the 
significancy  for  us  of  the  avIioIc  lesson. 

It  is  scarcely  needful  to  remind  you,  that  the  blood  shed 
in  this  sacramental  act,  betokens  the  same  thing  as  the  blood 
of  the  sacrifices  ordained  in  the  gracious  covenant  of  the  lost 
Eden ;  and  offered  by  Adam  and  Abel  and  Noah  and  Abra- 
ham. That  it  holds  forth  the  great  idea  of  atonement  for  sin 
by  the  substitution  of  the  life  of  the  victim, — ^vhich  "  life  is 
in  the  blood" — for  the  forfeited  life  of  the  sinner.  But  you 
may  observe  here  the  development  of  a  ncv;  truth  in  the  way 
of  faith's  application  of  that  doctrine.  It  is  the  exhibition  of 
the  mode  in  which,  and  the  conditions  on  which,  the  penitent 
becomes  clothed  with  the  rights  of  the  substitute.  This 
consists  simply  in  sprinkling  the  blood — nothing  else.  ^'  For 
when  I  see  (he  Hood  I  will  pass  over."  The  h3^ssop  branch, 
with  which  the  blood  was  struck  on  the  door,  is  the  simple 
emblem  of  the  appropriating  faith  which  applies  the  blood  to 
the  sin-stained  soul.  Ilencc  David,  under  a  deep  sense  of 
his  sinfulness,  cries  "  purge  me  with  hyssop  and  I  shall  be 
clean."  The  unleavened  bread  which  is  to  be  eaten  betokens 
tlic  sincerity  and  truth  with  which  the  act  is  to  be  done. 
The  bitter  herbs  so  specially  commanded  are  a  significant 
reminder,  not  only  of  the  sorrowful  eating  of  ''  the  fruit  of 
their  own  doings,"  to  which  they  were  doomed,  but  also  a 
warning  that  redemption  by  the  sprinkled  blood  may  be  con- 
sistent with  many  a  disagreeable  cross  and  trial.  Yea,  and 
tho  very  mode  of  the  eating,  with  the  staff  in  hand,  loins  girt, 
and  sandals  on  the  feet—"  eating  in  haste" — is  a  significant 
reminder  that  though  they  arc  the  redeemed  of  Jehovah,  they 


106  THE  PASSOVER  COVENANT  OF  REDEMPTION. 

are  still  pilgrims  and  strangers,  as  all  their  fathers  were. 
That  they  have  no  abiding  c'ltj  here,  but  must  be  up  and 
journeying  from  the  land  of  Egypt  and  its  bondage  to  a 
better  country,  even  the  land  of  which  the  Lord  hath  spoken 
to  the  fathers. 

Thus  suddenly  Ave  come  here  upon  a  gospel  of  full  detail, 
which  is  henceforth  to  take  the  place  of  that  more  general 
and  indefinite  gospel  of  salvation  by  atoning  blood  which 
has  hitherto  been  revealed  ;  and  which,  doubtless,  has  left  to 
the  faith  of  God's  children  many  a  dark  puzzle,  especially  in 
the  detail  of  how  this  salvation  is  to  be  applied  to  the  case  of 
the  sinner. 

Instead  of  a  study,  technically  and  in  detail,  of  the 
significancy  of  the  several  truths  symbolized  in' this  seal,  we 
shall  probably  attain  more  practical  results,  if  now  we  con- 
sider the  general  significancy  of  the  whole  of  this  revelation 
in  its  practical  application  to  our  day  in  the  Church,  and 
personally  to  ourselves. 

The  great  ideas  here  presented  may  be  classified  into  two 
orders  of  truths :  First ^  the  objective  truths,  presented  in 
the  divine  side  of  this  picture,  concerning  God,  Jehovah,  and 
man's  relation  to  him.  Second,  the  subjective  truths  from 
the  human  side  of  the  picture  :  viz.,  the  cfiect  of  the  divine 
truths  coming  in  contact  with  the  human  soul. 

And,  in  regard  to  both  these  classes  of  truths,  we  should 
ever  bear  in  mind  that  these  inspired  histories  of  God's  deal- 
ings with  man  and  of  man's  conduct  toward  God,  are  unlike 
all  other  histories.  For  it  is  not  simply  as  curious  records 
that  Ave  read  them  ;  or  that  we  may  find  ingenious  and  fanciful 
apphcations  of  them  to  our  case.  "  All  history  is  prophecy," 
said  Lord  Bacon.  But  in  a  far  stricter  sense  than  he  under- 
stood his  own  maxim,  and  yet  in  even  a  fuller  sense,  is  all  the 
inspired  history  prophecy.  This  is  the  history  of  a  Jehovah, 
"  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever;"  and  of  a  human 


TRUTHS    SET    FORTH    IN    IT    OBJECTIVELY.         107 

nature  under  the  special  administration  of  Jeliovah,  which  is 
also  the  same  thing  substantially,  under  all  the  phases  of  its 
diflferent  ages  and  civilizations.  Hence  the  subtle  logic  ever 
at  -work  in  the  mind  of  all  true  believers,  which  almost 
unconsciously  constructs  a  syllogism  upon  every  promise 
suggested  by  the  facts  of  the  inspired  histor^^,  and  derives 
thence  a  conclusion  concerning  the  method  both  of  (lod's 
dealing  and  of  the  conduct  of  human  nature  toward  God  in 
the  present,  or  any  past,  or  any  future  age.  It  Avas  the 
method  of  God's  saints  of  old,  and  is  of  his  saints  still,  to 
reason,  that,  God  being  unchangeable,  he  will  therefore  be 
likely  to  repeat  in  the  present  what  he  hath  done  in  the  past", 
and  human  nature  being  unchanged,  it  will  therefore  be 
likely  lo  act  toward  God  in  the  present,  under  like  circum- 
stances, just  as  in  the  past.  It  is  this  that  makes  the  word 
of  God  the  comfort  and  warrant  of  God's  people,  and  a  per- 
petual Avarning  to  those  that  love  him  not. 

Bearing  in  mind,  then,  this  principle,  let  us  study  the  views 
here  presented,  first  of  the  objective  truths  on  the  divine 
side  of  this  picture. 

The  retributive  justice  of  God  is  symbolized  for  us  in  all 
its  terror,  in  this  doom  which  impends,  as  a  dark  thunder 
cloud,  over  Egypt,  and  over  all  the  houses  unsprinkled  with 
that  blood.  It  is  a  true  symbol  of  the  condition  in  which  the 
gospel  presumes  all  to  be  to  whom  it  comes  with  its  provisions 
of  atoning  blood. 

Nor  is  it  easy  to  conceive  of  a  symbol  of  doom  more  fraught 
with  dreadful  terror.  This  loss  of  the  first-born — with  all  its 
heart-rendering  sorrows — is  worse  than  death  itself  to  the 
survivors.  Think  of  it !  The  hope — the  pride — the  joy  of 
every  family  cut  off  at  once,  leaving  none  to  sympathize  with 
others,  for  each  afike  is  absorbed  in  his  own  grief — when 
roused  at  midnight  by  the  groans  of  the  expiring  first-born,, 
he  hears  the  wail  ascending  all  around  him. 


108    THE    PASSOVER    COYENAXT    OF    REDEMPTION. 

And  it  adds  aggravation  to  the  woe,  that  all  this  could  havo 
been  avoided  !  For  Jehovah's  messengers  have  been  warning 
them  and  afflicting  them  for  weeks  past,  and  demonstrating 
the  power,  while  they  urged  the  siitiple  and  reasonable  appeal 
of  Jehovah.  And  a  further  aggravation  is  that  it  is  so  just 
a  recompense  of  reward.  For,  the  sorrow  that  breaks  the 
heart  ever  tends  to  bring  out,  as  the  fire  brings  out  the  invis- 
ible writing,  those  records  on  the  tablets  of  memory  which 
.are  unnoticed  or  forgotten  in  the  day  of  brightness  and  joy. 
So  was  it  with  Joseph's  brethren  when  sorrow  came  to  bring 
out  the  remembrance  and  the  confession,  '^  we  are  verily 
guilty  concerning  our  brother."  And  now,  as  each  house- 
hold gazes  upon  its  dead  first-born,  think  you  there  arose  not 
visions  of  the  murdered  babes  /of  the  HebrcAvs,  and  the  wails 
of  the  Hebrew  mothers,  that  for  long  years  gone  have  been 
crying,  "  How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long  !" 

Is  this  a  dreadful  picture  ?  Yet  it  is  but  a  type  of  what 
must  be — a  shadow  merely  of  the  wrath  to  come  to  all  the 
unsprinkled  soul's  tenements  in  eternity.  Ye  that  affect  to 
think  so  lightly  of  death  and  eternity  !  see  here  this  shadow 
and  gather  the  elementary  ideas  of  what  shall  be,  from  what 
has  been,  already,  under  the  government  of  God.  Standing, 
in  imagination,  amid  these  complicated  horrors  in  Egypt — the 
groans  of  the  dying,  mingling  Avith  the  shrieks  of  the  living, 
throughout  a  Avhole  empire  : — all  earthly  pomp  and  power 
levelled  to  mingle  its  unavailing  cries  with  the  lowest  and 
meanest  in  a  common  Avoe — here  see  what  it  is  for  "  God  to 
whet  his  glittering  SAVord  and  his  hand  to  take  hold  on 
vcn'j;cance." 

o 

The  grand  failure  of  all  the  arguments,  Avhich  men  found 
u|)on  the  benevolence  of  God,  against  a  Avrath  to  come  upon 
t!ie  ungodly,  occurs  just  here  :  in  that  it  [troves  too  much, 
and  therefore  proves  nothing.  ^  If  God's  benevolence  must 
exclude  the  idea  that  he  Avill  punish,  it  should  equally  ex- 


TRUTHS    SET    FORTH    IX    IT    OBJECTIVELY.        100 

elude  the  idea  that  he  Itai^  punished ;  and  therefore  leaves 
unaccounted  for  the  wrath  that  has  come,  in  the  attempt  to 
prove  merely  imaginary  XXia  wrath  tliat  shall  come.  The 
whole  history  of  the  world's  sorrow  and  anguish  flies  in  the 
face  of  this  theoretic  argument.  The  hell  at  which  men  scoff, 
as  never  to  come,  has  already  hegun  here  on  earth  ;  and  hut 
for  the  restraining  hand  of  infinite  goodness,  preventing  its  full 
development,  would  have  been  completed  long  ago  in  a  world 
of  pure  evil,  with  its  natural  consequence  of  pure  torment^ 
and  anguish  unmixed  with  any  good  or  any  alleviation. 

But  turn  not  away  from  the  picture  in  disgust,  as  thoun-h 
it  represented  God  acting  unjustly  and  therefore  cruelly  in 
tlie  infliction  of  this  doom.  For  remember  it  comes  not  until 
after  the  most  amazing  forbearance  and  extraordinary  pains 
to  avert  it.  From  the  first  they  have  deserved  wrath,  for 
their  cruel  crimes.  Yet  mercy  has  foreborne  with  them,  and 
urged  them  to  repent.  The  right  arm  of  omnipotence  is  not 
now  first  bared  to  strike  in  wrath.  It  has  been  bared  in. 
mighty  works  of  wonder  to  warn,  before  this.  The  gleaming- 
finger  of  omnipotence  has  beckoned  to  them  many  a  signal. 
The  voice  of  reason  and  entreaty  has  pleaded,  and  warned 
them  in  vain ! 

Tell  us,  ye  that  adjudge  this  doom  unjust  and  cruel — what 
man  of  you — nay,  what  holiest  man  on  earth — having  his 
hand  armed  Avith  irresistible  power,  would  have  borne  so  long 
with  the  evasions,  the  falsehoods,  and  the  insolence  of  Egypt  ? 
This  is  the  thought  that  shall  forever  exclude  the  alleviation 
of  the  torment  that  might  come  from  feeling  that  they  suffered 
unjustly.  This  remembrance  will  recur  of  the  forbearance  of 
God — the  warnings  of  God — the  pleadings  of  God.  There 
shall  be  none  to  play  "  Prometheus  bound,"  and  heroically 
struggle  against  a  mere  arbitrary  al mightiness,  in  that  hell  of 
which  the  gospel  warns  us ! 

2.  A  second  great  objective  truth,  in  contrast  with  this,  is 


110    THE    PASSOA^ER    COVENANT    OF   REDEMPTION. 

shadowed  forcli  in  this  idea  of  a  covenanted  peopl  redeemed 
bj  Jehovah,  and  their  salvation  secured  bj  this  very  destruc- 
tion upon  their  enemies.  It  is  a  truth  which  still  further 
expresses  to  us  the  goodness  of  God  even  in  his  "  strange 
-work"  of  veno;eance.  Such  is  his  love  for  them  that,  havin<2; 
by  a  former  covenant  organized  them  as  a  Church  for  himself, 
he  now,  to  assure  them,  by  another  covenant  binds  himself  to 
redeem  them,  and  calls  upon  them  to  come  and  seal  the 
engagement  with  him  by  sprinkling  the  blood,  and  eating  the 
sacrificial  feast.  Nor,  into  that  holy  covenant  was  one  of 
these  doomed  ones  forbidden  to  enter,  if  he  were  but  willing 
to  avouch  Jehovah. 

3.  But  the  grand  central  truth  of  all  the  objective  truths 
here,  is  shadowed  forth  in  that  blood  of  the  spotless  lamb 
shed  and  sprinkled  on  the  door  posts.  It  has  a  deep,  mysteri- 
ous meaning  and  finds  its  interpretation  in  the  history  of  Cal- 
vary and  the  cross,  far  onward  yet,  eveti  fifteen  hundred  years, 
in  the  history. 

The  blood-marked  house  is  but  representative  of  every 
soul  tenement  on  earth,  the  dweller  in  which — made  alive 
to  the  impending  doom  by  the  voice  that  cries  from  Sinai, 
"  whosoever  sinneth,  him  will  I  blot  out  from  my  book,"  and 
by  the  voice  crying  from  the  depths  within — hath  fled  from 
under  the  dark  thunder-cloud  of  wrath,  to  him  who  was 
lifted  up  on  the  cross.  This  blood  is  not  only  the  central 
idea  of  this,  but  of  all  the  revelations  of  God.  The  whole 
gospel  is,  in  fact,  summed  up  just  here,  "  when  I  see  the 
blood  I  will  pass  over."  Blood  !  blood  !  this  is  the  one  cry 
of  the  gospel — the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of  the  gospel.  All 
hope  of  the  divine  favour — all  strength  to  resist  and  conquer 
sin — all  power  of  a  holy  life  comes  from  this  blood.  Is  man 
redeemed  ?  It  is  because  "  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood."  Are  any  ransomed  from  sin  ?  "  Not  by  corruptible 
ransom  of  silver  and  gold  "  are  they  purchased,  "  but  by  the 


VARIOUS    RESPONSES    OF    UNBELIEF    AND    FAITH.    Ill 

precious  blood  of  Christ  as  of  a  lamb  Avitliout  spot."  Are 
these  justified  ?  "  Being  justified  bj  liis  blood.''  Arc  these 
cleansed  and  made  holy  ?  "  His  blood  clcanseth  from  all  sin." 
Are  thej,  as  strangers  and  wanderers  from  God,  restored  ? 
^'  Ye  who  sometime  were  afar  off  are  now  made  nigh  by  the 
blood  of  Christ."  Have  they  access  to  the  Father's  presence 
in  prayer  ?  It  is  because  the  High  Priest  hath  gone  before 
"  sprinkling  the  blood."  Are  they  arrayed  in  spotless  robes 
to  appear  at  the  court  of  the  Great  King  ?  "  They  have 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb."  Ave  sinners  cast  oflf  at  last  to  eternal  death  ?  It 
is  because  "  they  have  trampled  under  foot  the  blood  of  the 
Son  of  God." 

Thus  in  the  gospel  revelations,  all  mercy,  compassion,  and 
grace  of  God,  have  their  ground  in  that  blood.  All  convic- 
tion of  sin,  all  holy  desire  and  emotion  in  the  soul,  all  strength 
to  overcome  sin ;  as  all  hope  and  trust  and  peace  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost,  come  from  that  blood.  As  saith  the  scrip- 
tures concernino;  the  living;  creatures — "  The  life  is  in  the 
blood" — So  of  the  scriptures  themselves  we  may  say, 
emphatically,  "the  life  is  in  the  blood." 

Let  us  turn  now,  in  the  second  place,  to  the  subjective 
truths  of  the  application  of  the  blood,  shadowed  forth  here : 
and  on  the  supposition  that  human  nature  then  and  now  is 
the  same,  we  shall  probably  find  something  very  personal  to 
us. 

This  blood,  now,  each  one  must  apply  for  himself,  sprink- 
ling it  on  the  door  posts,  or  the  covenant  to  redeem  is  of  no 
avail  as  to  him. 

Endeavour  then  to  transfer  yourselves,  carrying  with  you 
the  knowledge  gained  by  observation  of  the  reception  of  the 
gospel  among  us,  to  that  land  of  Goshen,  lying  in  the  full 
flood  of  light  from  an  Egyptian  vernal  sun  that  afternoon,  in 
strange  contrast  with  the  murky  cloud,  in  sight  yonder,  over- 


112  THE  PASSOVER  COVENANT  OF  REDEMPTION. 

hanging  Egypt :  and  study  the  workings  of  human  nature 
under  this  gospel  message  which  Closes  hath  sent,  through 
the  elders,  to  all  the  people. 

Deep  earnestness  is  marked  upon  every  countenance  in 
Goshen,  and  haste iul  energy  upon  every  movement.  At  each 
door  of  the  humble  dwellings,  in  which  preparation  is  making 
for  a  feast,  the  inmates  are  watching  the  father,  or  head, 
acting  as  a  temporary  priest.  Solemnly  he  takes  the  hyssop 
branch,  and,  dipping  into  the  vessel  containing  the  blood  of 
the  lamb  that  has  been  slaughtered  for  the  feast,  he  strikes 
it — this  side  the  door,  and  that— and  over  the  door.  The 
solemn  ceremony  over,  the  preparation  goes  on.  The  lamb 
is  roasted  whole,  not  a  bone  broken :  for  the  families  of  tho 
nearest  friends,  sufficient  to  consume  the  whole,  have  united 
in  the  purchase  and  the  slaughter,  and  will  commune  together 
in  the  sacrificial  feast.  The  family,  instead  of  preparation  to 
retire  to  rest,  as  the  shades  of  evening  fall,  are  all,  strange 
enough,  preparing  as  for  a  journey.  There  are,  doubtless,  many 
uneasy  thoughts — some  nervous  trembling,  under  the  mys- 
terious warning  that  every  house  unsprinkled  with  blood  shall 
bewail  that  night,  in  bitterness,  its  first-born.  For  the  Angel 
of  death  shall  spread  his  wings  on  the  night  breeze,  and  touch 
with  bhght  and  withering  the  pride  of  every  unbelieving  house- 
hold. And  the  terrible  events  that  have  been  transpiring  in 
Egypt  have  come  to  the  ears  of  the  people.  Here  are  all 
the  elements  of  the  gospel  warnings  and  of  the  threatened 
woe  of  which  it  warns.  What  think  you,  judging  from 
what  we  see  of  the  reception  of  the  gospel  message  now, 
was  the  reception  then,  by  the  variety  of  characters  that 
heard  it  in  the  land  of  Goshen  ?  Let  us  analyze  a  little  the 
conf2;re2:ation  of  Israel. 

1.  Here  is  one,  representative  of  a  numerous  class,  who, 
after  all,  looks  on  with  stolid  iudifference  at  the  preparation 
scene  durinor  the  afternoon.     Toil  and  trouble  hath  soured 


VARIOUS    RESPONSES    OF    UNBELIEF    AND    FAITH.    113 

him,  or  the  enticements  and  temptations  of  liis  position  under 
the  Egyptian  taskmaster  have  made  ]iim  very  sceptical  upon 
the  whole  subject  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham.  It  seems 
very  strange  to  him  that  if  Jehovah  had  contracted  to  be 
specially  their  God,  he  should  leave  them  to  such  a  lot.  As 
to  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  their  assurance  of  Jehovah's 
remembrance  of  his  covenant,  and  the  wonders  they  have 
been  doing ;  all  the  good  that  has  come  of  it  has  been  to 
irritate  the  taskmasters  and  double  their  labour.  He  will 
buy  no  lamb  :  has  other  uses  for  his  money  ;  or  has  no 
money  ;  and,  as  to  this  new  zeal  about  religion  that  has 
seized  the  people  and  this  new  sort  of  w^orship,  it  seems  very 
absurd.  They  seem  all  to  be  getting  ready  in  haste  for  depar- 
ture, forgetting  that  the  Egyptians  may  have  something  to 
say  on  that  subject.  He  looks  on  in  moody  silence,  or  scoffs 
and  jests  at  the  blood  sprinkling.  He  will  sprinkle  no  blood. 
But,  as  Moses  has  proclaimed /ree^Zom  for  you,  is  it  not  worth 
trying  ? 

2.  This  one  again  is  no  scoffer  :  he  has  great  respect  for 
Moses  and  Aaron :  admires  their  patriotic  spirit  and  their 
boldness  in  speaking  to  Pharoah  ;  hopes  they  will  yet  worry 
him  into  measures  ;  yet  thinks  this  new  zeal  about  religion  a 
little  excessive  ;  and  indeed  can  see  no  particular  connection 
between  sprinkling  the  blood  on  the  door,  and  the  promised 
safety  from  the  very  curious  pestilence  which,  it  is  said,  is 
about  to  come  upon  the  whole  CDipire.  He  therefore  sprinkles 
no  blood.  The  reasoning  is  not  very  logical,  though  that  of 
those  who  pretend  they  can  accept  only  a  logical  religion. 
For  if  Moses  and  Aaron  are  not  from  Jehovah,  they  arc 
terrible  impostors,  merely  making  trouble  ;  and  deserve  none 
of  that  respect  which  you  affect  for  them.  If  they,  on  tlie 
contrary,  are  from  Jehovah,  and  recognized  as  such,  why 
acknowledge  Jehovah's  authority  in  the  general  and  yet  void 
it  in  all  the  particulars  ? 

H 


114    THE    PASSOYER    COVENANT    OF    REDEMPTION. 

But  with  the  unbelievers  and  the  critics,  in  their  several 
varieties,  who  sprinkle  no  blood,  we  have  less  concern  than 
with  the  various  workings  of  laith  in  those  who  obey. 

3.  This  one,  we  may  imagine,  though  he  obeys  the  call, 
sees  not  very  clearly  why  it  should  be  done,  nor  comprehends 
very  clearly  the  meaning  of  the  act.  Yet  he  is  thoroughly 
alarmed  at  the  impending  danger.  And  under  the  impulse 
of  fear,  together  with  a  disposition  to  obey  the  commands  of 
Jehovah,  he  sprinkles  the  blood.  Very  likely  he  will  display 
unusual  zeal  and  earnestness  in  doing  it ;  and,  to  make  assur- 
ance the  greater,  will  be  very  punctilious  in  performing  the 
sprinkling  in  the  most  imposing  and  solemn  manner.  Likely 
he  will  add  to  the  act  of  sprinkling  any  very  mysterious  and 
impressive  forms  that  he  may  have  seen  the  Egyptian  priests 
use,  or  some  of  the  traditional  practices  of  religion  which  have 
come  down  from  his  ancestors  beyond  the  Euphrates — good 
old  pious  customs  that  Terah's  family  practiced,  or  which 
were  favourites  in  Laban's  household.  In  his  mind  the  blood 
struck  upon  the  door  posts  has  the  character  of  a  magical 
charm  to  keep  away  spirits  of  evil  and  disease  and  death. 
Yet  he  has  faith  enough,  with  all  his  darkness  of  mind,  to 
sprinkle  the  blood,  and  is  safe.  For  the  gospel  nowhere  tells 
us  just  what  degree  of  error  is  compatible  with  salvation,  if  it 
be  not  error  that  keeps  one  from  sprinkling  the  blood. 

4.  Or  this  one,  again,  of  less  superstition  but  of  more  rest- 
less and  speculative  turn,  cannot  drive  from  his  thoughts  the 
query  of  the  scoffer  ''  what  good  can  that  spot  of  blood  on 
the  door  post  do  ?"  It  rings  in  his  ears  and  puzzles  his 
thoughts  continually.  It  almost  tempts  him  to  reject  the 
whole  thing  as  a  visionary  dream  or  imposture.  But  then  his 
consciousness  of  many  a  short-coming  and  many  a  transgres- 
sion makes  him  feel  that  if  death  should  come  lie  surely 
deserves  it,  and  cannot  escape  it  by  anything  he  can  do. 
With  a  very  weak  faith — nay  seemingly,  a  doubting  and  self- 
contradictory  faith — he  sprinkles  the  blood  and  is  safe. 


VAEIOUS   RESPONSES    OF   UNBELIEF    AND   FAITII.    115 

5.  Or  here  is  a  genuine  child  of  faithful  Abraham,  who  has 
sometimes  obtained  a  ghmpsc  of  the  great  truth  involved  in 
the  shed  blood,  and  experienced,  in  view  of  it,  inexpressible 
comfort  and  peace.  But  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
temptations  of  sin,  and  the  harassing  cares  of  life  have  over- 
shadowed his  spiritual  vision,  and  hidden  the  light  from  his 
view.  The  remembrance  of  many  a  sin  returns  and  sits  heavily 
upon  his  conscience,  and  thereby  darkens  his  views  of  the  great 
doctrine  of  the  atonement  for  sin.  But  still,  at  the  command 
of  Jehovah,  through  Moses  and  the  elders,  he  prepares  the 
lamb,  and  sprinkles  the  blood.  Yet  as  the  shades  of  night 
thicken,  and  all  are  waiting  in  anxious  suspense  for  the  blow 
of  vengeance  and  of  deliverance,  imagination  is  busy,  and  fears 
and  terrors,  as  dark  spirits,  rise  from  the  depths  of  his  soul. 
And  now  unbelief  suggests  in  view  of  the  array  of  past  sins 
which  memory  parades  before  him, "  can  a  little  blood,  sprinkled 
on  the  door  post,  blot  out  siicli  sins  ?"  Can  the  mere  accept- 
ance of  such  a  call  and  command  from  Jehovah  purge  the 
conscience  of  such  guilt  ?  However  this  blood  might  avail  for 
the  sins  of  the  poor  wretch  who  under  the  burden  of  transgres- 
sion cries  out,  for  the  first  time,  to  Jehovah  in  his  distress, — 
yet  can  it  avail  for  one  who  hath  proved  faithless  to  vows, 
and  buried  out  of  sight  his  very  covenant,  under  *'  a  mnltitude 
of  transgressions  ?"  0,  thou  of  little  faith  !  Hast  thou  not 
listened  to  the  promise  ?  He  said  not — "  when  I  find  a  tene- 
ment wherein  there  is  no  sin,  I  will  pass  over."  Nor — "  when 
I  find  one  who  has,  on  the  whole,  not  gone  far  astray,  I  will 
pass  over."  Nor — ''  when  I  find  a  strong  and  active  faith 
like  Abraham's,  I  will  pass  over" — but,  "  when  I  see  the 

BLOOD,  I  WILL  PASS  OVER." 

Sayest  thou,  doubting  soul, — "  But  I  have  no  faith,  and 
therefore  have  no  ground  of  hope  in  that  blood," — Well,  let 
us  test  that  point.  Go,  then,  wash  off  the  blood  from  the  door 
post,  and  risk  the  great  crisis  of  the  judgment  night  without 


116    THE    PASSOVER    COVENANT    OF   REDEMPTION. 

it !  Wilt  thou  ?  Not  for  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and 
all  the  glory  of  them.  And  why  not,  if  thou  hast  no  faith  in 
it  that  makes  it  availing  for  thee  ? 

Sayest  thou — "  But  I  am  unholy  in  affections,  unfit  for 
the  society  of  the  redeemed  and  the  holy  angels."  Well, 
come,  let  us  test  that  point  also.  Assume,  then,  thou  art 
swept  off  with  the  corrupt,  and  vile,  and  godless  ones  of 
Egypt  into  hell !  What  wilt  thou  do  there  ?  How  employ 
the  time — or  rather  the  eternity?  In  yearning  after  the 
Father's  house  ?  In  efforts  to  proclaim  the  mercies  and  the 
faithfulness  of  the  God  of  Abraham  ?  In  efforts  to  persuade 
tlie  spirits  doomed  in  the  eternal  prison  still  to  love  him  and 
adore  him  ?  Then  hell  itself  shall  have  become  heaven ! 
Shame  upon  thy  doubts  and  fears,  0  thou  of  little  faith  ! 

6.  Here  is  another  type  of  faith.  The  strong,  heroic  faith, 
of  the  true  child  of  Abraham.  It  relies  upon  that  blood  and 
nothing  else ;  simply  because,  as  memory  recalls  sins  and 
conscience  accuses  terribly,  faith  still  sprinkles  the  blood. 
The  preparation  being  made  with  solemn  cheerfulness  and 
joy,  as  night  draws  on  the  holy  supper  is  eaten  with  high 
discourse  of  the  wonders  of  Jehovah's  goodness  in  calling 
Abraham,  at  first,  out  from  among  the  idolatries  beyond  the 
Euphrates,  and  binding  himself  in  a  covenant  with  him ;  His 
long  suffering  mercies  to  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  Joseph,  are 
perhaps,  dwelt  upon.  His  mercies,  amid  all  the  afflictions  of 
Israel  are  recalled  to  mind.  As  the  hour  of  judgment 
approaches,  with  staff  in  hand,  and  "feet  shod  Avith  the 
preparation  of  the  gospel,"  he  is  ready  to  move  at  a  moment's 
warning.  Nay,  should  he  see  the  very  angel  of  death 
approaching  his  dwelling,  it  could  excite  no  terror  in  him ; 
for  such  is  the  confidence  in  Jehovah's  word,  that  he  could 
calmly  and  exultingly  point  to  the  blood,  and  shout,  "  Pass- 
over ;    Passover" — for  so  hath  Jehovah  commanded  ! 

7.  And,  finally,  we  may  well  suppose  also  that,  in  that 


YARIOUS   RESPONSES    OF   UNBELIEF    AND   FAITH.    117 

hour  of  the  revival  of  Jehovah's  true  children,  there  may 
have  been  the  case  of  some  poor  apostate  sinner  of  Israel, 
TV'hom  the  fears,  or  the  allurements  of  Egypt  have  turned 
aside  from  all  faith  in  the  covenant  with  Abraham  to  utter 
carelessness  and  thoughtlessness  in  reference  to  Jehovah,  now 
awakened  to  great  concern,  through  the  general  excitement 
and  concern  of  the  people.  On  this  afternoon,  we  may  well 
suppose  tlie  enquiry  suggests  itself,  to  many,  under  the  warn- 
ing of  the  angel  of  death  about  to  come,  will  that  blood  on 
the  door  post  avail  for  any  but  Israelites  who  have  stood  fast 
to  the  covenant  ?  And  the  inquiry  is  heard  from  every 
quarter,  men  and  brethren  of  Israel,  what  shall  we  do  ?  Is 
it  worth  while  for  such  as  we — apostates — the  very  chief  of 
sinners — to  prepare  the  lamb,  and  sprinkle  the  blood  ?  Shall 
those  who  have  broken  the  solemn  covenant  of  Jehovah  with 
Abraham  be  allowed  to  become  parties  to  the  new  covenant? 
If  there  were  such,  the  answer  from  every  true  Israelite, 
doubtless  was — "  Yes  !  Come  on,  and  strike  the  blood  upon 
the  door  post.  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall 
become  as  wool,  by  the  sprinkling  of  this  blood !  Jehovah 
goes  not  behind  the  covenant  to  search  for  proof  against  you. 
He  will  remember  your  sins  no  more.  For  he  looks  only  to 
faith's  seal  to  the  instrument — saying,    '  when  I  see  the 


DISCOURSE  VI. 

THE  <30SPli;L  OF  THE  SINAI   COVEXANT  ;    ITS  RULE  OF  LIFE  TO 

CONVICT  OF  sin;  its  ritual  to  teach  the  taking 

AWAY   OP   SIN  ;    and   ITS    SOCIAL    ORDER   MOULDED    AS  A 

TYPE  OF  Christ's  spiritual  commonwealth. 

Exodus  xix.  3-7;  xx,  1-lT  ;  xxiv.  7-9  and  xxix.  38-42. — Thus  shalt 
thou  say  to  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  toll  the  children  of  Israel :  Ye  have 
seen  Avhat  I  did  unto  the  Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings, 
and  brought  you  unto  myself.  Now  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice 
indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure  unto 
me ;  and  ye  shall  be  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  an  holy  nation. 

And  Moses  came  and  called  the  elders  of  the  people,  and  laid  before  their 
faces  all  these  words  which  the  Lord  commanded  him. 

And  God  spake  all  these  Avords,  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage. 
Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me. 

And  Moses  wrote  all  the  words  of  the  Lord.  And  he  took  the  book  of 
the  covenant  and  read  in  the  audience  of  the  people  ;  and  they  said,  All 
tliat  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do,  and  be  obedient.  And  Moses  took  the 
blood  and  sprinkled  it  upon  the  people,  and  said,  Behold  the  b!ood  of  the 
covenant,  which  the  Lord  hath  made  with  you  ccnceruing  all  these  words. 

Then  went  up  Moses  and  Aaron,  Nadab,  and  xVbihu,  and  seventy  of  the 
elders  of  Israel ;  and  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel. 

NoAV  this  is  that  which  thou  shalt  offer  upon  the  altar;  two  lambs  of  the 
first  year  day  by  day  continually  .  .  .  a  continual  burnt  offering  through-* 
out  your  generations,  etc. 

Deut.  V.  2,  3,  22. — The  Lord  our  God  made  a  covenant  with  us  in  lloreb. 
The  Lord  made  not  this  covenant  with  our  fathers,  but  with  us,  even  us 
who  are  all  alive  this  day.  These  words  the  Lord  spake  unto  all  your 
assembly  in  the  mount  .  .  .  and  he  added  no  more.  And  he  wrote  them 
in  two  tables  of  stone,  and  delivered  them  unto  me. 

Deut.  vi.  1,  4,  P. — Now  these  are  the  commandments,  the  statutes,  and 
the  judgments  ;  .  .  .  Hear,  0  Israel ;  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  ;  and 
thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  tliy  heart,  and  with  all  tliy  soul 
and  with  all  thy  might. 

Deut.  x.  1. — At  that  time  the  Lord  said  unto  me  :  Hew  the  two  tables 
of  stone,  like  unto  the  fust,  and  come  up  unto  me  in  the  mount,  and  make 


120    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT. 

thee  an  ark  of  wood.  .  .  .  And  he  wrote  on  the  tables  according  to  the 
first  writing,  the  ten  commaudments  which  the  Lord  spake  unto  you  in  the 
mount  out  of  the  rnidst  of  the  fire  in  the  day  of  the  assembly,  and  the  Lord 
gave  them  unto  me.  And  I  turned  myself  and  came  down  from  the  mount 
and  i)ut  the  tables  into  the  ark  which  I  had  made,  and  behold  there  they 
be,  as  the  Lord  commanded  me. 

Gal.  iii.  17,  19,  24. — The  covenant  which  was  confirmed  before  of  God 
in  Christ,  the  law  which  was  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  cannot 
disannul,  that  it  should  make  the  promise  of  none  efi^ect. 

Wherefore  then  serveth  the  law  ?  It  was  added  because  of  transgres- 
sion, until  the  seed  should  come. 

Wherefore  the  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  unto  Christ,  that 
we  might  be  justified  by  faith. 

Forty-five  clays  after  the  covenant  with  its  passover  seal 
to  redeem  his  chosen  people,  in  connection  with  the  last  of 
the  marvellous  judgments  upon  the  Egyptians,  this  body, 
consisting  of  two  or  three  milHons  of  people,  is  found,  not  on 
the  borders  of  Canaan  as  they  might  easily  have  been  within, 
the  time,  but  in  an  opposite  direction.  They  have  moved 
south-eastward  to  that  waste  desert  around  Mount  Sinai,  far 
southward  in  the  peninsula  between  the  northern  arms  of  the 
Ked  Sea.  IIow  thoroughly  they  are  here  segregated,  apart 
from  the  habitable  world,  and  alone  with  Jehovah, — as  indi- 
cated in  the  saying  of  the  text,  ''  I  bare  you  on  eagles' 
wings  and  brought  you  unto  myself" — you  may  form  some 
conception  from  the  graphic  picture  of  the  scene  of  their 
present  encampment  by  the  American  traveller  Stephens : — 
"  The  mountains  become  here  more  and  more  striking, 
venerable  and  interesting.  Not  a  shrub  or  a  blade  of  grass 
grew  on  their  naked  sides,  deformed  with  gaps  and  fissures 
Before  us  towered  in  awful  grandeur,  so  high 
and  dark  that  it  seemed  close  to  us  and  barring  all  further 
progress,  the  end  of  my  pilgrimage — the  holy  mountain  of 
Sinai.  Among  all  the  stupendous  works  of  nature  not  a 
place  can  be  selected  more  fitted  for  the  exhibition  of 
Almighty  power. 


FACTS    TOL'CQIXG    THE    SINAI    REVEL ATIOXS.      121 

'"  It  is  a  perfect  sea  of  desolation.  The  crumbling  masses 
of  granite  all  around,  and  the  distant  view  of  tlie  Syrian 
desert,  with  its  boundless  waste  of  sands,  form  the  wildest 
and  most  dreary,  the  most  terrific  and  desolate  picture  that 
tlie  imagination  can  conceive." 

Sucli  then  was  the  spot  to  which  they  were  suddenly  trans- 
ferred, as  if  on  eagles'  wings,  from  the  exuberant  fertility 
of  Goshen  to  be  alone  with  Jehovah.  The  scene  and  tlie 
circumstances  of  their  isolation  are  important  elements  in 
the  exposition  of  the  great  covenant  transaction  which  now 
occurs  between  Jehovah  and  his  newly  redeemed  Church. 
For  so  describing  it  as  a  Church,  I  but  repeat  the  words  of 
the  martyr  Stephen :  "  This  is  he  that  was  in  the  Church  m 
the  wilderness  J  ^ 

Beyond  doubt,  the  strange  jumble  of  ideas  in  the  popular 
mind,  and,  indeed,  in  the  minds  of  not  a  few  learned  critics, 
concerning  the  law  given  at  Sinai,  and  its  relation  to  the 
gospel  and  the  Christian  Church,  arises,  in  large  part,  from 
overlooking  the  fact  that  this  whole  transaction  is  another 
covenanting  between  Jehovah  and  his  "  Church  in  the  wilder- 
ness." Not,  indeed,  such  sacramental  covenant  as  that  of 
circumcision,  organizing  the  visible  Church,  nor  that  of  the 
passover,  covenanting  for  the  redemption  of  the  chosen  body, 
but  still  a  formal  covenant  providing  for  the  spiritual  nurture 
and  growth  in  grace  of  the  redeemed  Church. 

These  loose  notions — whether  of  the  popular  mind  or  of 
the  Rationalistic  interpreters — tliat  the  law  given  at  Sinai  is 
merely  some  vague  moral  precepts  delivered  to  mankind  at 
large,  together  with  some  semi-political  laws  organizing  a 
Church,  or,  rather,  something  half  Church  and  half  state,  and 
an  elaborate  ritual,  with  all  of  which  the  Christian  Church  has 
no  particular  concern — arc  the  more  surprising,  since  both 
the  record,  in  the  10th  chapter  of  the  preliminary  prepara- 
tion for  delivering  and  receiving  the  first  revelation  from 


122    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SIXAI  COVENANT. 

Sinai,  and  the  record,  in  the  24th  chapter,  of  what  was  done 
with  it  when  thus  received,  most  expressly  declare  that  it  was 
delivered  to  the  Church,  as  Church,  already  organized  ;  that 
the  preparation  for  it  was  through  a  council  or  synod  of  the 
"  elders  "  of  the  congregation  ;  and  after  the  delivery  it  was 
solemnly  executed,  as  a  covenant,  between  Jehovah  and  the 
Church.  And  after  thus  solemnly  adopting,  by  covenant  act, 
the  first  revelation,  consisting  of  the  ten  commandments,  with 
an  exposition  of  the  application  of  their  principles  to  the 
intercourse  between  God  and  man  in  worship,  and  man  and 
man  in  ordinary  aifairs,  tlicn  "  went  up  Moses,  and  Aaron  and 
seventy  of  the  elders,"  representing  the  Church,  to  a  sacri- 
ficial feast  in  the  presence  of  Jehovah  in  the  mount,  prepar- 
atory to  the  extended  revelation  concerning  establishing  the 
tabernacle  of  Jehovah  their  king  among  them,  and  the  duties 
of  the  priests,  his  courtiers.  Then^  again,  when  the  palace 
was  prepared,  "  according  to  the  pattern  shown  in  the  mount," 
Jehovah  descended  and  took  possession  of  it ;  and  thence- 
forth, from  that  tabernacle,  Moses  received  all  the  details  of 
the  Levitical  law  of  worship ;  of  eccl6siastical  law  to  govern 
the  Cluirch ;  and  of  civil  and  constitutional  laws  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  peculiar  theocratic  state  established-  to  be  the 
type  of  Christ's  spiritual  and  everlasting  kingdom. 

This  simple  reference  to  the  facts  of  the  successive  reve- 
lations  at  Sinai,  recorded  in  Exodus  and  Leviticus  ;  together 
with  the  fact  that  in  Numbers  are  recorded  such  ordinances 
as  the  incidents  of  administration,  during  the  vvanderings, 
gave  rise  to ;  and  that  Deuteronomy  contains  simply  a  sum- 
mary of  the  previous  ordinances  made  thirty-nine  years 
afterward,  with  a  view  to  adapt  them  to  the  settled  state 
of  the  nation,  now  soon  to  take  place,  will  be  found  to  relieve 
mucli  of  the  confusion  of  ideas  on  this  subject.  And  a  care- 
ful reading  of  the  whole,  under  the  light  of  this  statement, 
will  make  manifest  that  Moses  did  not  organize  a  Jewish 


FACTS    TOUClliXG    THE    SFXAf    Kin'KLATIOXS.      123 

Clmrcli  1)y  revelation  from  Sinai,  as  the  popular  concejjtion 
hath  it,  but  found  the  Church  fully  organized  with  its  govern- 
ment of  elders,  at  the  time  of  his  call.  For  to  these  elders 
he  came  with  his  credentials  (Ex.  iv.  29)  ;  to  these  elders 
he  revealed  the  sacrament  of  tlie  passovcr  (Ex.  xii.  21)  ; 
and  before  these  elders,  in  council  or  synod,  he  laid  the 
message  of  Jehovah,  and  through  them  made  preparation 
for  the  meeting  of  the  congregation  before  the  Lord  at  Sinai 
(Ex.  xix.  7).  And  not  only  was  the  Church  organized  with 
elders  to  govern  it,  before  the  law  at  Shiai,  but  there  Avere 
also  priests  already  recognized  in  the  congregation  assembled 
at  the  mount,  before  giving  the  law  (Ex.  xix.  22,  24). 
Neither  is  it  true  that,  by  this  revelation,  given  at  Sinai, 
Moses  organized  the  Jewish  civil  commonwealth,  with  its 
magistracy  for  secular  affairs ;  for  he  found  a  civil  govern- 
ment organized,  before  the  giving  of  the  law.  And  it  was 
not  by  suggestion  of  revelation,  but  on  the  suggestion  of 
Jetbro  his  father-in-law  that  the  magistracy  was  appointed. 
This  was  done  as  a  matter  of  common  sense  and  natural 
reason,  just  as  the  magistracy  of  any  other  civil  common- 
wealth is  appointed.  And,  indeed,  the  careful  student  of 
Moses  will  discover,  throughout  his  system  of  ordinances  for 
Israel,  that,  though  in  both  the  Jewish  state  and  Jewish  Church 
Jehovah  ruled  as  Head,  being  served  by  its  citizens  as  their 
King,  as  well  as  worshipped  by  them  in  theircapacity  of  Church 
members  as  God,  still  the  distinction  between  that  which  is 
political  and  that  which  is  ecclesiastical  is  kept  up  far  more 
carefully  than  in  most  modern  Christian  states,  and  in  the 
conceptions  of  many  modern  Christian  people.  So  that,  even 
were  there  any  apology  for  the  modern  blunder  of  citing,  as 
precedents  for  a  purely  secular  government,  the  ordinances 
of  a  Theocratic  cammon wealth,  established  for  the  specific 
purpose  of  furnishing  [i  type  of  the  great  spiritual  kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ,  still  there  could  not  be  found,  in  the  Mosaic 


124    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT. 

'inauces,  either  precedent  or  apology  for  most  of  that  con- 
ling  of  powers  secular  and  powers  spiritual  which  has  so 
often  in  modern  ages  brought  both  the  Church  and  the  state 
to  the  verge  of  ruin. 

You  are  ready  now  to  ask — What  then  is  the  nature  and 
purpose  of  the  Sinai  revelations :  and  what  place  and  relation 
-do  they  hold  in  the  gospel  system  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  not  left  to  our  conjecture 
■or  to  mere  ingenious  inference.  In  much  fuller  detail  than 
in  the  case  of  any  of  the  preceding  revelations  is  the  whole 
matter  expounded  for  us  by  the  scriptures  themselves. 

This  is  a  covenant  transaction,  and  this  law,  so  called,' 
constitutes  simply  the  stipulations  of  that  covenant.  So  it  is 
expressly  declared  of  it,  "  The  Lord  our  God  made  a  cov- 
enant with  us  at  Horeb."  It  was  ratified  formally,  as  a 
covenant,  when  first  received,  the  people  being  called  upon' 
solemnly  to  swear  it,  after  it  had  been  written  down  in  a  book. 
To  give  it  still  more  solemn  and  venerable  form  the  fundamental 
truths  of  it  were  engrossed  upon  stone  by  the  hand  of  Jehovah 
himself.  When,  after  this,  the  people  violated  all  its  solemn 
stipulations,  by  the  idolatry  of  the  golden  calf,  Moses  under- 
stood the  covenant  to  be  annulled,  and  therefoi-e  destroyed 
the  divine  autograph  of  it.  When  they  were  pardoned 
and  their  relations  to  Jehovah  were  restored,  it  was  again 
divinely  written  and  deposited  in  the  chest  or  ark,  upon  the 
•cover  of  which  the  throne  of  Jehovah's  visible  presence  was 
placed,  hence  called  the  ark  of  the  covenant ;  and  thus  it  was 
preserved  to  after  generations  as  the  perpetual  reminder 
that  they  were  in  covenant  with  Jehovah. 

It  was  a  covenant  with  this  body  of  people,  as  a  Church, 
the  body  organized  by  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  its 
redemption  guaranteed  in  the  passover  covenant.  In  speak- 
ing of  the  body  as  the  Church  we  are  but  repeating,  as  I 
have  said,  the  Avords  of  the  martyr  Stephen  in  Acts  vii.  38, 


NATUKE  AND  PURPOSE  OP  THESE  KEVELATIONS-  12-> 

"  This  is  he  that  was  in  the  Churcli  in  the  wilderness,  v 
the  an'^el  that  spake  to  him  in  Blount  Sinai  with  our  tb> 
who  received  tlic  lively  oracles  to  give  unto  us."  And  that 
this  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech  is  plain  enough  from  tha 
reference  of  this  covenant  back  to  the  covenants  with  Abra- 
ham and  the  passover  covenant,  as  fulfilled  and  further 
carried  out  by  this  covenant. 

It  Avas  a  covenant  with  this  Church  as  a  representative  body^ 
standing  for  the  Church  of  all  succeeding  ages.  Moses,  forty 
years  after,  when  this  generation  that  stood  before  Sinai  had 
all  perished,  expressly  says  to  the  next  generation,  "  The 
Lord  made  this  covenant  not  with  our  fathers  hut  ivitli  us, 
even  us  ivho  are  .all  here  alive  this  dai/.^^  By  parity  of 
reasoning  the  Church  that  stood  at  Sinai,  thus  representing 
one,  represented  all  succeeding  generations.  And,  accord- 
ingly thenceforth  in  the  succeeding  ages,  including  that  of 
the  Apostles,  the  inspired  teachers  regarded  the  Church  as 
still  under  this  covenant.  And  you  will  observe  how,  under 
the  New  Testament  dispensation  Stephen  expressly  says^ 
"  Our  fathers  received  the  lively  oracles  to  give  unto  usy 
That  is,  they  stood  there  as  representing  us. 

It  was  a  covenant  ivholly  spiritual  in  its  significancy .  Moses^ 
just  as  Jesus  afterward,  sums  up  its  provisions  in  the  generali- 
zation, "  Love  the  L(yd  thy  God  with  all  thy  mind,  soul  and 
strength."  And  the  Apostle  expressly  argues  that,  so  far 
from  disannulling  the  previous  covenant  of  spiritual  blessings 
with  Abraham,  as  the  representative  father  of  all  who  believe, 
and  who  thus  constitute  the  true  circumcision,  it  is  intended 
to  include  that  covenant,  and  both  confirm  and  develop  more 
fully  its  provisions  of  spiritual  blessing. 

As  to  the  end  and  purpose  of  this  Sinai  law  covenant,  the 
Apostle  Paul  not  only  leaves  no  room  for  uncertainty  or 
further  need  of  exposition  after  his  clear  and  elaborate  expo- 
sition in  the  epistles  to  the  Romans,  the  Galatians  and  the 


12G    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SLN"AI  COVENANT. 

Hebrews,  but  expressly  ans^Yers  the  r|uestIon, — ''  Wherefore 
then  serveth  the  law  ?''  m  these  explicit  terms — "  It  was 
added  because  of  transgression  until  the  seed  (promised 
in  the  Eden  and  the  Abrahamic  covenants)  should  come. 
Wherefore  the  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to 
Christ — that  ive  might  be  justified  by  faith." 

The  substance  of  the  wdiole  matter,  therefore,  is  this: 
That  as  the  covenant  with  Adam,  for  the  blessing  of  a  divine 
human  Redeemer  to  restore  a  part  of  the  race  through 
vicarious  atonement,  was  more  distinctly  developed  in  the 
covenant  with  Noah,  establishing  the  blessing  in  the  line  of 
Shem  ;  and  both  these,  again,  more  fully  developed  in  the 
covenant  with  Abraham  establishing  the  blessing  in  the  line 
of  Isaac,  and  organizing  the  redeemed  body  as  a  Church 
settled  in  a"  promised  inheritance ;  and  all  three  of  these, 
again,  more  fully  developed  in  the  passover  covenant,  bring- 
ing out  more  distinctly  the  engagement  to  redeem  this  Church 
by  faith  in  atoning  blood ;  so  now  this  Sinai  covenant  is  a 
still  fuller  development,  in  detail,  of  all  the  preceding  cove- 
nants, intended  to  teach  and  to  produce  a  conscious  conviction 
of  the  need  of  a  vicarious  atonement ;  the  method  of  applying 
its  benefits  by  faith  for  the  pardon  of  sin,  and  purification  of 
the  nature  ;  and  the  relation  of  the  believers  to  their  Redeemer, 
as  king  and  head  of  an  organized  comiiion wealth. 

With  this  general  view  of  the  nature  and  purpose  of  the 
Sinai  gospel  kept  distinctly  before  you,  these  last  four  books 
of  jNIoses — instead  of  presenting,  as  they  may  have  done 
hitherto,  a  somewhat  confused  medley  of  precepts  and  promi- 
ses, ethical,  ritual,  ecclesiastical  and  civil ;  and  all  of  uncer- 
tain application  to  Christianity — will  be  found  to  assume  a 
simple  and  natural  logical  order,  each  portion  in  its  proper 
place,  and  perfectly  adapted  to  its  special  end.  First,  a 
general  code  of  ethics  covering  the  whole  ground  of  man's 
relation  to  God  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  his  fellows  on  the 


THREEFOLD    ASPE(;T    OF    ISRAEL    AT    SIXAL     127 

other  (Ex.  xx).  This  folloAvcd  bj  a  divine  annotation  on 
this  general  abstract  code,  illustrative  of  its  application  to  all 
the  practical  relations  of  man  in  life,  as  Avorshippers  of  Jeho- 
vah, as  social  beings  in  civil  society,  and  as  members  of  a 
peculiar  spiritual  society  (Ex.  xxi.-xxiii.).  This  being  re- 
ceived and  formally  adopted  by  covenant  (Ex.  xxiv.),  then 
an  extended  revelation,  expounding  the  construction  of  a 
typical  palace  in  which  Jehovah  proposes  to  have  "  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  among  men"  (Ex.  xxv.  xl).  This  constructed 
and  taken  possession  of  by  Jehovah,  then  an  extended  reve- 
lation, from  his  palace,  of  a  ritual  of  worship  which  shall  teach 
all  the  particulars  of  the  application,  by  faith  of  the  vicarious 
atone  aent,  and  the  purification  of  the  life  by  faith  which 
^'  works  by  love  and  purifies  the  heart ;"  together  with  certain 
modifications  of  the  social  and  civil  law  already  existing  so  as 
to  mould  the  civil  commonw^ealth  itself  hito  a  prophetic  testi- 
mony to  the  coming  of  a  Redeemer  and  a  type  of  his  spiritual 
kingdom  (Lev.  i.  xxvii).  To  which  is  added  a  brief  historical 
account  of  the  administration  under  this  system  in  the  wilder- 
ness (Numbers  i-xxxvi);  and  then  a  summary  rehearsal, 
after  forty  years,  with  certain  additions  and  modifications 
needful  to  adapt  it  to  the  settled  state  upon  which  the  people 
w^ere  then  about  to  enter.     (Deut.  i-xxxiv). 

I  thus  repeat  the  outline  and  order  of  this  Sinai  revelation 
here  that  you  may  have  it  distinctly  before  you  preparatory 
to  a  summary  analytical  statement  of  the  purposes  aimed  at 
in  making  this  revelation. 

These  people  standing  at  the  base  of  Mount  Sinai,  are  to 
be  contemplated  in  three  different  relations,  with  reference  to 
each  of  which  these  laws  were  given. 

First  ^  they  stood  as  men  representative  of  all  men  of  the 
Adam  race,  and,  like  Adam,  creatures  owing  duties  to  God 
and  to  his  other  creatures. 

Second^  as  the  chosen,  organized,  spiritual  body  under  the 


128    THE  LAW  x\ND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT. 

covenant  with  Abraham,  constituting  them  Jehovah's  peculiar 
people,  and  him  their  God. 

Third,  as  a  social  and  civil  organization  which  is  to  possess 
a  country  guaranteed  to  them  as  an  inheritance  for  a  special 
purpose. 

Contemplated  in  the  tirst  aspect,  they  needed  a  moral  law, 
or  ethical  rule  of  life,  definitely  pointing  out  their  duties  to 
God  and  man,  in  order  that  the  comparing  of  their  life  with 
it  may  directly  fasten  conviction  upon  the  conscience.  Such 
a  law  of  two  tables  they  received,  first  as  the  foundation  of 
all  other  laws  which  are  but  the  detailed  application  of  its 
principles.  Its  provisions  are  arranged  with  marvellous 
logical  method,  so  as  to  be  exhaustive  on  the  subject  of  moral 
duty.  Those  concerning  God,  the  invisible,  begin  with  the 
invisible  acts  of  the  heart,  and  proceed  outwards  to  the 
words  and  deeds  of  the  life  ;  those  concerning  man,  visible, 
begin  with  the  outward  deeds  and  proceed  inwardly  to  the 
desires  of  the  heart.  The  substance  of  the  ten  commands 
is,  thou  shalt  worship  God  only ;  in  his  appointed  way  only  ; 
using  his  name  reverently  in  worship  only  ;  specially  worship 
him  at  his  appointed  times  ;  worship  and  honour  father  and 
mother,  his  representatives,  and  at  the  same  time  types  of  a;ll 
that  earthly  authority  which  he  has  delegated  for  social  order ; 
nor  shalt  thou  injure  thy  fellow  man  either  in  deed^  against 
his  life, affections  or  property — in  woixl,  against  his  reputation 
— nor  in  desire,  against  anything  that  is  his. 

So  perfect  and  exhaustive  is  this  ethical  code,  few  as  its 
words  are,  and  simple,  that  the  human  mind  can  conceive  of 
no  moral  act,  or  impulse  that  comes  not  under  one  or  other 
of  its  categories.  Yet,  in  order  to  aid  men  in  making  the 
application  of  it  to  the  practical  duties  and  relations  of  life, 
its  divine  author  vouchsafed  to  append  a  scries  of  practical 
applications  of  it  by  way  of  general  illustration,  to  questions 
of  duty,  social,  civil,  ritual,  ecclesiastical  —  as  contained  in 
the  twentieth  to  twenty-fourth  chapters  of  Exodus. 


TJlllELFOLD    ASPECT    OF    ISRAEL    AT    SIXAI.      12U 

Contemplated  in  the  second  aspect,  as  the  chosen  and 
organized  spiritual  body  under  the  covenant  with  Abraham, 
they  needed — not  an  ecclesiastical  constitution  organizing 
tliem,  for  that  they  already  had  ;  nor  a  theological  creed  and 
ritual  of  worship,  for  that  they  also  had  already — but  a  further 
development  of  their  ecclesiastical  constitution,  adapting  it  to 
their  new  condition  ;  and  a  fuller  detail  of  their  theology  and 
ritual,  in  order  to  set  forth  more  clearly,  by  its  symbols,  both 
the  objective  theology  of  redemption  by  atonement,  and  the 
subjective  theology  of  that  atonement,  applied  by  the  faith  of 
the  individual,  to  the  renewal  and  purification  of  his  nature. 
Such  an  adaptation  of  their  ecclesiastical  constitution  they 
received,  in  various  incidental  precepts  and  enactments  ;  and 
such  an  expansion  of  the  ritual,  in  the  elaborate  detail  of 
Leviticus,  with  incidental  precepts  and  enactments  elsewhere. 

Contemplated  in  the  third  aspect  of  a  social  organization 
to  dwell  together  as  a  nation — they  needed  not  organization 
and  a  political  constitution,  for  that  they  already  had.  And 
had  it  been  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  to  leave  them  simply 
an  ordinary  civil  community,  Avith  his  church  established 
among  them,  there  would  have  been  no  revelation  of  civil  law, 
save  by  way  of  illustrating  and  applying  the  moral  law  as  before 
mentioned.  They  w^ould  have  modified  and  changed  their 
civil  polity  as  experience  and  the  counsels  of  wise  statesmen, 
such  as  Jethro  might  suggest ;  just  as  any  other  people  under 
the  guidance  of  natural  law  and  reason  may  modify  their 
civil  laws.  But  it  being  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  to  dwell 
among  them,  by  his  visible  presence,  and  to  constitute  this 
political  commonwealth  a  type  of  the  great  spiritual  common- 
wealth over  Avhich  he  specially  rules,  as  his  people,  and  to 
Ijo  a  perpetual  prophecy  of  the  coming  INIessiah,  it  was  needful 
to  introduce  various  modifications  of  their  civil  code  with 
reference  to  that  purpose.  Hence  those  peculiar  laws  forbid- 
ding the  alienation  of  their  lands  by  any  family,  or  the  aliena- 

I 


130    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT. 

tion  permanently,  of  his  liberty  by  any  Israelite ;  hence  the 
exceptional  command  to  marry  a  brother's  widow,  contrary 
to  the  general  law  forbidding  marriage  within  that  degree ; 
with  all  the  modiacations  of  rights  of  property  and  person 
which  grew  out  of  these.  Hence  the  various  ordinances 
making  idolatry,  consultation  of  evil  spirits,  false  prophecies, 
etc.,  treasonable.  Hence,  in  short,  the  whole  of  those  pecu- 
liar principles  of  civil  law  in  the  Mosaic  code,  and  in  the 
administration  under  it,  which  have  so  often  been  perverted 
by  being  applied  as  precedents  in  ordinary  civil  governments; 
as  though  Jehovah  had  covenanted  with  these  civil  govern- 
ments to  dwell  among  them  as  their  theocratic  king ;  or,  as 
though  Jehovah  purposed  to  make  some  one  of  these  model 
governments  of  modern  times  a  type  and  a  perpetual  prophecy 
of  his  coming  to  the  earth.  It  is,  manifestly,  from  this  con- 
fusion of  ideas  concerning  the  spiritual  import  of  the  Mosaic 
civil  institutions  that  men  get  the  precedents  whereby  they 
confound  together  the  spiritual  and  the  secular  powers ; — 
though,  even  in  the  Mosaic  institutes,  these  powers  are  care- 
fully kept  asunder,  so  far  as  they  could  be,  under  that  pecu- 
liar theocracy — and  by  this  confusion  perpetually  endanger 
both  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

That  the  Sinai  revelations  did  not  organize  a  civil  and  polit- 
ical system,  but  only  make  some  modifications  of  a  comm.on 
law  system  already  existing,  is  manifest  not  only  from  the  fact 
that  no  such  civil  and  political  system,  as  a  system,  is  found 
in  them  ;  but  from  the  further  fact  that,  finding  such  common 
law  usages  among  the  people,  as  the  goel,  or  blood  revenge, 
and  polygamy,  descended  to  them  from  the  patriarchal  con- 
stitution, the  law  of  Moses  simply  modified,  restrained,  and 
ameliorated  their  application.  Ho  made  of  the  one  a  great 
gospel  type,  by  instituting  cities  of  refuge,  in  which  the  man- 
slayer  should  be  protected  against  the  wild  impulses  of  passion 
in  the  avenger  of  blood.     In  the  other  case  he  interposed 


THREEFOLD    ASPECT    OF    ISRAEL    AT    SIXAI.      131 

lei^al  forms  to  protect  tlio  wlib  from  tlio  passioiiato  iuipuLscs 
of  the  husband.  Jesus  expressly  declares,  ''  Moses  for  the 
hardness  of  your  hearts  gave  you  this  precept  "  of  the  civil 
law.  He  aimed  to  correct  an  abuse  of  a  common  laAV  usai^e 
from  the  patriarchy  ;  he  did  not  first  ordain  divorce  or  the 
usage  of  polygamy  out  of  which  that  common  law  of  divorce 
originated. 

But  while,  for  purposes  of  analysis  and  exposition,  we  may 
thus  contemplate  the  Sinai  covenant  as  aiming  to  meet  the 
three-fold  aspect  of  the  body  with  whom  it  was  made,  viz  : — 
men,  as  men,  as  church  members,  and  as  citizens  of  a  pecu- 
liar civil  commonwealth  ;  we  must  not  forget  that,  in  its  great 
practical  aspect,  these  divisions  all  merge  together,  and,  prac- 
tically, it  is  to  be  considered  in  its  two-fold  character  of  a  law 
to  convict  of  sin,  and  a  gospel  to  teach  the  pardon  and  justi- 
fication of  the  sinner  by  faith,  and  that  a  faith  which  purifies 
the  heart.  In  this  view  it  is,  on  the  one  hand,  a  law  of  com- 
mandments '•  exceeding  broad,  reaching  to  the  thoughts  and 
intents  of  the  heart,"  with  divine  annotations  showing  the 
apphcation  of  its  precepts  to  every  relation  of  man  as  a 
creature  of  God,  and  as  a  social  being  with  relations  to  his 
fellow  men.  On  the  other  hand,  it  sets  before  the  convicted 
sinner,  in  fullest  detail,  the  gospel  salvation  by  symbols  and 
types.  The  perpetual  daily  offering  of  the  lamb  upon  the 
altar  is  its  central  symbol,  and,  around  that  ancient  figure 
of  the  old  covenants,  is  arranged,  in  eloquent  symbols,  the 
whole  subjective  process  of  salvation — faith,  purification — 
consecration  to  Jehovah.  It  is  law^  but  not  antithetical  to 
the  gospel,  or  as  contrasted  with  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  and  his 
Apostles.  It  is  law  and  gospel  both.  Nay  the  very  law 
itself  is  grounded  upon  an  evangelical  motive,  "  I  am  Jeho- 
vah thy  God  who  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt" — 
who  have  redeemed  thee,  and  entitled  myself  to  grateful  ser- 
vice   and   obedience — therefore   worship   me    only ;   in   the 


132    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT. 

appointed  way  only ;  naming  me  in  reverent  worship  only ; 
worship  at  the  appointed  times ;  and  render  due  worship  to 
my  representatives  and  the  type  of  that  order  I  have  appointed 
for  society  ;  nor  in  deed,  nor  word,  nor  desire,  do  any  injury  to 
thy  fellows.  Hence,  that  which  is  most  distinctively  ethical 
in  the  Sinai  revelations  is  yet  distinctly  evangelical  in  tho 
"•round  and  motive  of  obedience.     And  that  which  is  ethico- 

o 

litual  is  intensely  evangelical  in  all  its  forms  and  ideas — ai5 
you  may  readily  see  in  Bonar's  or  Seiss'  or  any  other  popular 
expositions  of  the  Mosaic  ritual. 

Our  habit  of  conceiving  of  this  ancient  ritual  as  merely  a 
dark  and  mysterious  hinting  at  a  salvation  yet  to  be  revealed, 
goes  far  beyond  the  Apostle's  meaning  in  describing  the  law 
as  "  having  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come."  He  says  this 
with  special  reference  to  the  error  of  those  who  msisted  on 
clinging  to  the  ancient  prophetic  mode  of  presenting  Christ 
crucified  to  a  faith  which  had  yet  to  look  forward  to  Christ's 
first  coming  as  we  now  look  forward  to  Christ's  second 
coming  ;  whereas,  Christ  having  come,  and  faith  having  to 
look  backward  historically,  the  symbols  designed  as  pro- 
phetic speech  of  him  are  not  only  needless,  but  the  use  of 
them,  after  their  purpose  is  accomplished,  can  only  tend  to 
obscure  the  view  of  Christ ;  and  the  desire  to  use  them  can 
arise  only  from  the  dangerous  error  of  resting  in  the  external 
symbol  without  penetrating  to  its  internal  spiritual  sense. 
This  is  the  clue  to  the  interpretation  of  all  that  Jesus  first, 
and  Paul  after  him,  had  to  say  on  the  subject  of  the  Sinai 
law ;  viz,  that  they  had  need  to  contend,  perpetually,  with 
men  who  saAV  not  the  real  meaning  of  the  law  which  they  ex- 
tolled so  ;  and  who  would  feed  the  people,  not  upon  the 
internal  kernel  of  truth,  but  upon  the  husks  containing  it,  out 
of  which  they  had  suffered  the  kernel  to  drop  and  disappear 
from  view. 

It  was  not  that  the  Sinai  gospel  was  intended  to  veil  the 


PROPHETIC    GOSPEL    MUST    BE    IN    SYMBOLS.     lo3 

wrutlis  of  salvation,  as  from  men  avIio  might  not  be  able  to 
appreciate  and  feel  their  spiritual  power,  tliat  Jehovah  choose 
to  write  it  in  tlicse  symbols  projecting  all  their  shadows  toward 
the  great  central  Cross.  It  arose  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
and  out  of  a  reason  in  the  very  nature  of  the  human  mind. 
The  gospel  that  instructs  a  faith  which  must  look  forward, 
prophetically,  to  a  future  not  yet  actualized,  must  speak 
through  ?yml)ols  rather  than  in  Uteral  language,  in  order  to 
be  comprehensible  to  the  human  understanding,  which  can 
neither  conceive  nor  utter  its  thoughts  of  the  future  save  in 
symbols,  types  and  analogies.  This  you  see  even  in  the  New 
Testament.  All  is  literal  enough  so  far  as  relates  historically 
to  Christ  and  salvation  ;  but  when  it  comes,  as  in  the  last 
book  of  the  New  Testament,  to  develop  the  future  of  the 
gospel  kingdom  and  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  precisely 
as  in  the  Old  Testament,  all  become  symbols  and  types. 
The  believers  of  the  Old  Testament  age  had,  of  necessity,  to 
be  taught  by  symbols  concerning  the  first  coming  of  Christ, 
just  as  believers  now  can  be  taught  only  by  symbols  concern 
ing  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  In  ordaining  that  gospel 
ritual  of  shadowy  symbols,  Jehovah,  in  accordance  with  his 
usual  method  of  revelation,  accommodated  himself  to  the 
habits  of  thought  common  among  men.  The  saints  guided 
by  Moses  were  taught,  in  the  prophetic  language  which  they 
could  best  understand,  precisely  the  same  gospel  truths 
which  Avere  taught  the  saints  guided  by  Paul  in  the  historical  ( 
language  which  they  could  best  understand.  Having  in 
literal  terms,  therefore,  furnished  a  law  of  life  to  convict  of 
sin,  far  more  clear  and  in  detail  than  any  previous  revelation, 
the  Sinai  Covenant  proceeds  also,  far  more  clearly  and  in 
detail  than  ever  before,  not  only  to  hold  up  as  heretofore 
tue  gospel  provision  for  sin  in  atoning  blood ;  but  the  gospel 
instructions  for  the  application  of  that  provision  to  the  con- 
science of  the  sinner  by  faith — the  cleansmg  of  the  heart  to 


134    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT 

which  such  faith  leads,  and  the  consecration  of  the  life  to 
the  Redeemer.  Thus  the  gospel  according  to  Moses  differs 
neither  in  creed  nor  practical  rehgion  from  the  gospel 
according  to  Jesus  and  Paul,  but  only  in  the  language  in 
which,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  it  had  to  find  utterance. 
The  argument  against  the  papal  and  semi-papal  ritualism 
of  modern  times,  which  proposes  by  the  authority  of  the 
Church  merely  to  set  up  symbols  in  w^orship  for  teaching 
religious  truth  and  assisting  devotion,  it  will  be  perceived, 
runs  much  deeper  than  any  mere  reason  of  inexpediency  or- 
impolicy  in  matters  of  indifference.  For  the  error  of  these 
modern  symbols,  as  appendages  to  the  ordinances  of  worship 
is,  in  principle,  exactly  the  error  of  the  Judaizers  against 
whom  Jesus  first,  and  after  him  Paul  contended  so  earnestly. 
It  is  the  error  of  bringing  back  the  cumbrous  machinery 
absolutely  necessary  to  meet  the  special  difficulties  of  teach- 
ing a  gospel  whose  great  facts  w^ere  yet  prophetic,  and  of 
substituting  this  in  place  of  that  simple,  direct,  literal  teach- 
ing w^hich  alone  is  necessary,  and  therefore  alone  is  proper  in 
exhibiting  the  great  facts  of  the  gospel  now  become  historic. 
It  is  an  attempt  to  force  in  symbols  where  there  is  no  place 
for  them,  and  therefore  where  the  use  of  them  can  have  no 
other  effect  than  to  encumber  and  hinder  the  communication 
of  truth.  Moreover  the  very  attempt  itself,  and  the  zeal 
with  which  it  is  prosecuted,  evinces  clearly  that  those  who 
make  it  perceive  not  the  grand  internal  truths  of  the  symbol 
and  their  significancy  to  the  heart.  That  they  are  resting 
merely  in  the  outward  observance  ;  admiring  the  outward 
shelL  without  penetrating  to  the  kernel  within ;  appealing  to 
the  imagination  merely,  and  not  to  the  conscience  and 
spiritual  nature  of  men.  And  besides  this,  the  use  concur- 
rently of  two  methods  so  unlike  in  their  nature  of  conveying 
truths  cannot  possibly  result  in  any  other  effect  than  to  blur, 
confuse  and  obscure  the  view  of'  truth  to  the  minds  of  the 


LAW"  OR  CfOSPEL  OF  siXAi  NKVE^i  ri:pi:ali:[j.  \:]'j 

pco'plo  ;  and,  as  a  necessary  consc([ucncc,  to  make  them  lose 
sight  at  last  of  the  real  spiritual  truth  altogether,  and  perceive 
only  the  symbol  itself  as  appealing  to  the  imagination.  The 
mind  having  the  advantage  of  directly  contemplating  a  his- 
torical "  Christ  crucified  "  is,  manifesJy,  not  aided  but  hin- 
dered in  its  conceptions,  by  compelling  it  to  use  symbols, 
and  thus  look  prophetically,  and  "  through  a  glass  darkly  " 
at  Christ  crucified. 

But  for  more  conclusive  than  an}^  considerations  of  philo- 
sophy and  expediency,  is  the  argument  that  there  is  no  more 
authority  in  the  Church  for  constituting  a  symbol,  than  for 
adding  to  the  revealed  truth  of  God.  The  true  symbol 
must  be  divinel}'-  framed  and  constituted.  It  is  no  more 
left  to  the  vagaries  of  human  fancy,  or  to  rest  upon  mere 
human  authority,  than  the  truths  it  was  intended  to  teach. 
"  See,"  said  Jehovah  to  Moses,  "  that  thou  make  all  things 
according  to  the  pattern  showed  thee  in  the  Mount."  Even 
Moses  was  not  left  to  his  own  taste  and  discretion,  in  fashion- 
ing a  single  cord,  or  loop,  or  tassel  of  the  Tabernacle  and  its 
furniture — the  symbolic  palace  of  Jehovah,  and  typical  at 
once  of  Christ  the  Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  present  and 
ruling  in  his  Spiritual  Kingdom.  The  authority  of  God  alone 
can  constitute  a  gospel  symbol.  And  the  claim  to  set  up  a 
symbol  in  gospel  worship,  which  Jehovah  has  not  set  up  in 
his  word,  is  really  a  claim  to  speak  as  the  messenger  of 
Jehovah,  and  to  come  with  authority  to  actualize  a  divine 
pattern  revealed  to  him  who  sets  it  up.  It  is  a  claim  analo- 
gous to  that  of  Mohammed,  Swedenborg,  or  of  Joe  Smith. 

From  this  view  of  the  gospel  of  the  Sinai  covenant,  and 
of  the  symbols  and  types  through  which  it  was  obliged,  by 
the  very  nature  of  the  human  mind,  to  find  its  utterance, 
while  "  Christ  crucified  "  was  yet  a  prophetic  instead  of  a 
historic  fact — you  may  find  your  minds  relieved  of  much  of 
that  obscurity  which  often  exists,  even  among  earnest  Chris- 


13C)    THE  LX^Y  AN-D  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SINAI  COVENANT. 

tiau  people,  concorning  the  relation  of  this  Sinai  Covenaiib  to 
the  Church  under  the  present  dispensation.  An  obscurity 
which  is  specially  unfortunate  at  a  time  when  a  treacherous 
infidelity  labours  to  subvert  the  faith  of  Christians  in  the 
inspiration  of  this  portion  of  the  scriptures.  The  question  is 
continually  raised  as  we  press  the  obhgations  of  God's  law — 
"  But  has  not  this  or  that  enactment  of  the  Mosaic  code 
been  repealed  by  the  coming  in  of  the  gospel  dispensation  ?" 
xind  good  men,  labouring  to  run  the  line  between  the  repealed 
and  the  unrepealed,  have  suggested  the  maxim — '•  All  that 
is  moral  stands — all  that  is  ritual,  ecclesiastical  or  political  is 
repealed."  No  doubt,  the  principle  intended  to  be  uttered 
by  this  maxim  is  true.  But  it  is  a  singularly  unfortunate 
mode  oi  uttering  the  truth.  If  I  have  correctly  analyzed  and 
stated  the  nature  and  purposes  of  the  Mosaic  revelations, 
•then — nothing  that  Moses  ever  enacted  has  been  rei^ealed^ 
any  more  than  the  things  enacted  hij  Jesus  or  Paul.  Many 
of  the  Mosaic  enactments,  practically  applying  principles, 
expired  by  limitation.  As  the  leaves  fall  from  the  tree  at 
the  change  of  the  season,  having  fulfilled  their  office,  so  the 
gorgeous  foliage  of  the  Sinai  ritual  of  symbols  fell  away,  so  the 
prophetic  types  of  the  Sinai  ecclesiastical  and  civil  ordinances 
fell  away  when  their  functions  were  fulfilled.  But  the 
Divine  tree  itself  continued  a  living  tree,  with  all  its  func- 
tions of  life  in  exercise,  according  to  the  times  and  seasons 
appointed  for  it,  and  leafed  out  again  under  the  warm  brec^th 
of  spring — even  the  reviving  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the 
opening  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  All  the  great 
gospel  truths  and  principles  of  the  Sinai  covenant  still 
stood,  notwithstanding  the  fashion  of  uttering  them  changed, 
and  the  concrete  ritual  and  typical  organisms  which  they 
animated  passed  away.  The  eternal  truths  embodied  in 
that  typical  palace  of  Jehovah :  in  that  one  altar  of  sacrifice ; 
in  that  altar  of  incense  ;  in  the  ofierings  appointed  for  them, 


LAW    OR    GOSPEL    OF    SINAI    NEVER    REPEALED.    137 

bloody  and  unbloody  ;  in  that  Theocratic  kingdom  and  its 
laws  of  naturalization,  purification  and  excommunication — 
all  these,  like  tlie  great  Author  of  them,  are  "the  same, 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 

Hence  we  need  capply  no  cautious  limitations  to  the  saying 
of  Jesus,  "  Heaven  and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  one  jot  or 
tittle  of  this  law  shall  not  pass  away  till  all  be  fulfilled." 
Even  the  very  jots  and  tittles  of  its  ritual  pass  away  only  be- 
cause they  have  fulfilled  their  end  in  adapting  the  truth  to  the 
"  sundry  times  "  of  the  revelation  of  redemption.  No  one 
who  is  familiar  with  the  reasonings  of  that  great  Apostle, 
whose  specialty  it  was  to  be  the  Jewish  iconoclast,  and  dash 
in  pieces  the  narrow  perverted  ritualism  of  his  age,  but  must 
be  filled  with  admiration  at  the  heights  and  depths  of  his 
inspired  logic,  when,  planting  his  premises  upon  these  old 
covenants  with  Adam,  and  Abraham  and  Israel  at  Sinai,  and 
David,  as  the  great  gospel  bonds  in  which  Jehovah  hath 
bound  himself  to  secure  the  sinner's  salvation — he  proceeds 
to  reason  out  the  title  of  all  that  believe,  irrespective  of  blood 
or  nation,  or  age,  to  the  benefit  of  those  covenants  as  being 
represented  in  them.  And  with  what  majestic  transcen 
dental  generalization  does  he,  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
take  the  dead  symbolism  to  which  a  contracted,  unspiritual 
rituahsm  still  clings,  and  re-animate  it  with  the  new,  fully 
developed  gospel  truths,  until  it  swells  out  again  to  infinite 
proportions.  As  in  that  vision  of  Isaiali,  the  year  King 
Uzziah  died,  he  saw  the  teniple  and  all  its  symbols  expand 
infinitely,  until  the  golden  throne  of, Jehovah,  on  the  ark  of 
the  covenant,  was  lifted  up  to  infinite  heights  and  breadths  ; 
and  the  temple  expanded  to  the  dimensions  of  the  universe  ; 
and  the  visible  symbol  of  Jehovah's  presence  on  the  mercy 
seat  became  the  Jehovah  actually  fiUing  immensity  with  His 
presence  ;  and  the  mysterious  emblematic  creatures  that 
with   their  wings  overshadowed  the  mercy  scat,  rose   and 


138    THE  LAW  AND  GOSPEL  OF  THE  SIXAX  COVENANT,  I 

I 

expanded,   and   floated   apart,    veiling   their   faces,   as  one  j 

shouted  "  Holy  !'•    and  the   other  answered  "  Holj !"   and  ! 

then  both  in  chorus  sing  "  Holj  is  Jehovah,  God  of  Hosts  ;  ] 

the  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glorj !"     So  these  symbols  of  \ 

the  ancient  Sinai  covenant,  under  the  glowing  logic  of  the  i 

inspired  Apostle,  again  are  re-animated  for  us,  and  rise  and 

swell  into  proportions  of  infinite  grandeur ;  till  tabernacle 

and  smoking  altar  and  flowing  blood,  and  floating  cloud  of  ; 

incense,  become  so  many  infinite  transparencies  blazing  with  ! 

excess  of  fight,  exhibiting  to  us  the  actual  scenes  transpiring  | 

in  the  inner  temple  of  the  spiritual  universe.     Ko  !  No  !    To  j 

the  soul    that   has   ever   caught   the   inspiration  of  Paul's  I 

New  Testament  logic,  this  cold  and  cautious   criticism  that  I 

so  narrowly  inspects,  and  so  sweepingly  lops  off  the  repealed 

from  the  unrepealed,  till  but  a  sightless  stump  is  left,  seems  | 

irreverent  and  almost  blasphemous  !  | 

Brethren,  this  is  the  true   spirit  in   which  to  study  the  i 

gospel  of  this  Sinai  covenant.      It  is  no  curious  and  amazing  ; 

history,  merely,  of  how  Jehovah  once  spa.ke  and  covenanted  • 

with  certain  Israelites  at   Sinai.     "  Not  with  your  fathers 

merely,"  said  Moses,  foity  years  afterward,  "  did  he  make  < 

this  cov^enant  at  Horeb,  but  witli  us  ivho  are  all  alive  here  \ 

this  day.  "     And  said  Stephen,  fifteen  hundred  years  after-  ; 

wards,  under  this  our  own  dispensation,  "  He  spake  in  Mount  I 

Sinai  with  our  fathers  loho  received  the  lively  orades  to  give  | 

unto  us.^'      It  is  no  theory  of  mine,  therefore,  but  the  Holy  | 

Ghost's,  that  this  Sinai  law  is  our  law.    And  just  as  truly  was  ! 

it  with  you  and  me,  brethren,  "  who  are  all  ahve  this  day,''  ' 

that  he  made  that  covenant.      It  was  to  you  and  me  that  he  ^ 

spake    these  "ten    words"  of  command,  to   show  us   our 

sin,  and  make  us  feel  it.      For  you  and  me  he  appointed  j 

that  ritual  of  atoning  sacrifice  to  teach  us,  by  its  beautiful  ! 

symbols,  how   the  sin  is   to  be  taken  away ;   for  you   and  i 

me  those  typical  purifications  for  sin  and  uncleanness  and 


LAW    OK    GOSPEL    OF    SINAI    NEVKli    JJEPEALKD.    loO 

those  signs  and  the  clcansings  of  the  leprosy ;  lor  you  and 
mc  those  cities  of  refuge,  and  that  singular  typical  common- 
wealth -with  its  curious  laws  and  constitution.  All  this  is 
just  as  really  and  truly  the  word  o^  Jehovah  to  us,  and  as 
really  deserving  of  our  reverence,  as  though  we  had  heard 
the  voice  of  the  thunders,  and  had  seen  the  lightnings  and 
the  smoke  and  the  shaking  of  the  huge  mountains,  and 
Nature  herself,  half  dissolved  in  fear,  prostrating  herself 
in  reverent  awe  to  attest  the  words  of  her  Maker  and  Lord, 
as  the  word  of  the  Almighty  to  men  ! 

Say  not  within  yourselves,  surely,  if  we  had  lived  in  the 
days  of  these  fathers  of  the  Church  in  the  wilderness,  and 
seen  all  these  wonders,  avo  would  have  believed  and  have 
been  saved.  Alas,  they  who  did  sec  it,  and  who  trembled 
at  it,  could  soon  forget  it  and  be  as  rebellious  as  any  of  you  ; 
yea  utterly  neglected  and  despised  it  and  miserably  perished  I 
And  all  that  for  precisely  the  same  cause  that  leads  you  to  ne- 
glect it  now — "  the  same  evil  heart  of  unbelief!"  With  the 
Apostle,  therefore,  I  quote,  as  a  warning,  the  reasoning  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  by  David,  from  this  very  case ;  "  To-day  if 
ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts,  as  in  the 
provocation  in  the  day  of  temptation  in  the  wilderness.  So  he 
sware  in  his  wrath  they  shall  not  enter  into  my  rest." 


SECTION  lU. 


REDEMPTION  AS  REVEALED  THROQGH  THE  SPIRIT  OF  CHRIST 
IN  THE  PROPHETS. 


DISCOURSE  VII. 

THE   GOSPEL    OHUllCH   BY   COVENANT    TYPICALLY   SET    FORTH 
AS   THE   ETERNAL   KINGDOM   OF  DAVID's    SON. 

II  Samuel  vii.  1,  2,  4,  5,  IG,  13,  20,  24. —  And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
the  king  sat  in  bis  house,  and  the  Lord  had  given  him  rest  round  about  from 
all  his  enemies ;  that  the  king  said  unto  Nathan  the  prophet,  see  now,  I 
dwell  in  an  house  of  cedar,  but  the  ark  of  God  dwelleth  within  curtains. 
And  it  came  to  pass  that  night  that  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Nathan, 
saying,  go  and  tell  my  servant  David,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  shalt  thou  build 
me  an  house  for  me  to  dwell  in  ? 

And  thine  house  and  thy  kingdom  shall  be  established  forever  before 
thee  :  thy  throne  shall  be  established  forever. 

Then  went  king  David  in,  and  sat  before  the  Lord,  and  he  said,  who 
am  I,  0  Lord  God  ?  and  what  is  my  house,  that  thou  hast  brought  me 
hitherto? 

And  this  was  yet  a  small  thing  in  thy  sight,  0  Lord  God :  but  thou 
has  spoken  also  of  thy  servant's  house  for  a  great  while  to  come.  And  i.^ 
this  the  manner  of  man,  0  Lord  God  ?  And  what  can  David  say  more 
unto  thee?  (I  Chron.  xvii.  17.  Thou  hast  regarded  me  according  to  the 
estate  of  a  man  of  high  degree,  0  Lord  God.  What  can  David  speak 
more  to  thee  for  the  honour  of  thy  servant).  For  thou  hast  confirmed  to 
thyself  thy  people  Israel  to  be  a  people  unto  thee  forever  :  and  thou,  Lord, 
art  become  their  God. 

Psalm  Ixxii.  1,  8,  17  and  Ixxxix.  3,  4.— Give  the  king  thy  judgments,  0 
God  and  thy  righteousness  unto  the  king's  son.  He  shall  have  dominion 
also  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  His 
name  shall  be  continued  as  long  as  the  Sun  :  and  men  shall  be  blessed  in 
jim  :   all  nations  shall  call  him  blessed.     I  have  made  a  covenant  with  my: 


142    THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KIXGDOM  OF  GOD. 

chosen,  I  have  sworn  unto  David  my  servant.  Thy  seed  will  I  establish  for- 
ever, and  build  up  thy  throne  to  all  generations. 

Luke  i.  32.— Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,  and  the  Lord  God  shall  give 
nxito  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David  :  and  he  shall  reign  over  the  house 
of  Jacob  forever. 

Acts  ii.  30. — Therefore  being  a  prophet,  and  knowing  that  God  had 
sworn  with  an  oath  to  him  (David),  that  of  the  fruit  of  his  loins,  according 
to  the  flesh,  he  would  raise  up  Christ  to  sit  upon  his  throne ;  he  seeing  this 
before  spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  He  said  on  this  wise  (in  Isaiah 
Iv.  3)  I  will  give  you  the  sure  mercies  of  David. 

Tnis  brief  historical  record  of  the  vision  of  Nathan,  the 
covenant  with  David,  announced  through  him,  and  David's 
reception  of  the  message,  might  well  be  selected  to  illustrate 
what  has  already  been  said  in  a  previous  discourse  of  the  brief 
and  fragmentary,  yet  wonderfully  germinal  and  logical  char- 
acter of  these  Divine  revelations.  To  the  superficial  reader 
this  seventh  chapter  of  II  Samuel,  or  its  parallel  passage  in 
I  Chron.  xvii.  conveys  little  other  impression,  than  that 
David,  now  settled  comfortably  in  his  capital,  gratefully 
resolves  to  build  a  more  befitting  and  attractive  palace 
for  Jehovah  whose  vicegerent  he  is  in  reality.  For  unlike 
Saul,  his  predecessor,  who,  as  soon  as  the  possession  of  a  little 
power  developed  the  ambition  and  pride  of  his  nature,  sought 
to  rule  in  his  own  right,  and  to  avoid  Jehovah's  prophet  who 
anointed  him,  David,  once  in  power,  grg^tefully  remembers 
the  marvellous  loving-kindness  of  Jehovah,  and  seeks  more 
and  more  to  exalt  him,  as  the  real  sovereign,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  people.  Whereupon  Jehovah,  in  return,  vouchsafes  to 
assure  him  that  the  throne  of  Israel  shall  be  hereditary  in  his 
family  forever.  But  while  superficial  readers,  and  indeed 
many  learned  critics,  see  nothing  profounder  than  this  in  the 
story,  no  thoughtful  Christian  reader  can  fail  to  perceive 
that  this  falls  infinitely  short  of  reaching  the  vast  depths  of 
its  significancy.  For  he  cannot  retrace  a  step  backward  in 
the  history,  or  advance  a  step  forward,  to  ascertain  the  con- 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    COVENANT    HISTORICALLY.      143 

nection  and  scope  of  the  narrative  of  the  vision,  -without  seeing 

that  this  shallow  view  of  the  passage  gives  rise  to  inexplicable 

puzzles.      Why  should  David  be  so  overwhelmed,  and  lying 

prostrate,  cry  "  0  Lord  God,  what  can  David  say  more  unto 

thee  ?"      Why  this  reiteration  in  various  forms  of  the  terms 

*'  forever,"    as  the  only  limit  to  the  throne   and   kingdom 

promised  ?      What  can  he  mean  by  the  exclamation  '-  Is 

this  the  manner  of  a  man  ?"  Or,  as  in  the  parallel  place  in 

Chronicles — "  thou  hast  regarded  me  according  to  the  estate 

of  a  man  of  high  degree  ?"    And  this  the  more  especially  if 

we  take  the  Hebrew  reading  of  the  first — "  Is  this  the  law  of 

the  Adam,^^  and  of  the  second — "  regarded  me  according  to 

the  order  of  the  Adam  from  ahove^''  as  if  its  parallel  is  the 

saying  of  the  Apostle  (I  Cor.  xv.  47)    "  The  second  man 

(Adam)  is  the  Lord  from  heaven  ?"     And  then,  too,  the 

point  which  seems  to  make  the  honour  so  overwhelming,  and 

one,  compared  with  which  all  that  Jehovah  has  done  hitherto, 

in  raising  him  from  the  sheep-cote  to  a  throne,  seems  a  small 

thing,  is   ''  thou  hast  spoken  of  thy  servant's  house  for  a 

great  tvhile  to  corned 

Once  the  attention  is  arrested  by  these  puzzling  suggestions, 
and  the  mind  turned  to  the  diligent  search  for  the  solution 
of  them ;  by  a  comparison  of  scripture  with  scripture,  this 
remarkable  place  will  be  found  to  be  another  of  tliose  suc- 
cessive germinal  centres  from  which  a  whole  series  of 
revelations  is  developed — of  like  character  with  the  covenant 
of  grace  with  Adam  in  the  lost  Eden  ;  with  Noah  fixing  the 
blessings  in  the  line  of  Shem :  with  Abraham  organizing  the 
visible  Church :  with  Israel  in  Egypt  and  at  Sirai,  developing 
definitely,  and  in  detail,  all  that  before  had  been  promised. 
And  this  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  revelation  once 
obtained,  then  all  details  of  the  narrative  swell  into  grander 
proportions ;  the  vision  itself  and  David's  view  of  it  are 
perceived  to  be   sublimely   spiritual :    and,  still   more,  the 


144    THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

remarkable  prominence  given  to  this  revelation  through  the 
whole  series  of  prophets,  forward  to  the  close  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament,— its  prominence  in  the  angels'  annunciation  of  Jesus 
— and  its  like  prominence  after  the  opening  of  the  dispensation 
of  the  Spirit,  in  the  arguments  of  the  Apostles,  all  become 
intelhgible  enough  to  us. 

Looking  backward  now,  first  to  the  occasion  of  this  revela- 
tion, it  will  be  perceived  that  the  sayuig  "  The  Lord  had  given 
him  rest  round  about  from  all  his  enemies,"  involves  something 
more  than  the  mere  restoration  of  peace  after  a  long  civil  war, 
and  after  fierce  struggles  with  foreign  foes.  The  historj, 
immediately  preceding,  records  how  David  had  recently  taken 
this  Jebus  or  Jerusalem,  as  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Canaan- 
itish  nation,  in  the  land  of  promise.  And  that  taken,  the 
original  covenant  with  Abraham  to  give  to  the  chosen  people 
the  land  of  Canaan  as  an  inheritance,  is  at  length  completely 
fulfilled.  Four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  according  to  the 
Apostle's  chronology,  elapsed  from  the  making  of  the  covenant 
with  Abraham  to  raise  up,  in  the  line  of  Isaac,  that  peculiar 
nation  for  whom  Canaan  should  be  the  natural  inheritance  and 
the  fulfillment  of  that  part  of  the  covenant,  in  the  array  of  a 
nation  of  two  or  three  millions  at  Mount  Sinai,  to  enter  into 
another  solemn  engagement  with  Jehovah.  And  so,  again, 
another  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  have  elapsed  between 
the  first  coming  of  the  nation  from  Mount  Sinai  to  its  inheri- 
tance and  the  full  possession  thereof  by  the  united  nation 
under  David  in  the  capture  of  this  Jebus, — which  becomes 
thenceforth  so  prominent,  through  all  time,  as  the  City  of 
David,  Jerusalem. 

These  words,  therefore,  "  The  Lord  had  given  him  rest," 
mark  a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  redemption — even  the 
complete  fulfilment,  in  its  temporal  sense,  of  the  covenant 
with  Abraham  concerning  the  peculiar  nation  and  the  land  of 
inheritance.    So  David  evidently  regarded  it.    For  now,  with 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    COVEXANT    HISTORICALLY.     145 

every  preparation  of  priests  and  Levites  for  the  holy  office,  and 
of  special  inspired  songs  of  praise,  he  had  brought  up  the  ark 
of  the  covenant,  and  pitched  its  permanent  abiding  place  in 
Jerusalem,  with  national  singings  and  shoutings  and  dancings. 
Nor  was  it  any  mere  holiday  parade.  The  ark,  with  its  visible 
symbol  of  Jehovah's  presence,  thus  brought  to  Jerusalem,  was 
at  once  the  re-acknowledgment,  by  the  nation,  of  Jehovah  as 
their  covenant  king ;  their  witness  to  the  unity  of  the  nation 
in  the  covenant  with  him ;  and  their  recognition  of  all  their 
rights  as  derived  from  those  ancient  covenants  to  be  his  people 
and  he  their  God. 

The  very  terms  of  the  inspired  psalm  sung  by  the  mighty 
choir,  as  they  bear  the  ark  to  the  holy  hill,  show  how  the  Spirit 
of  God  taught  both  David  and  the  people  to  regard  it.  "  Be 
ye  mindful  always  of  his  covenant :  the  words  which  he  com- 
manded to  a  thousand  generations  ;  even  of  the  covenant 
which  he  made  with  Abraham  and  of  his  oath  with  Isaac  : 
and  hath  confirmed  the  same  to  Jacob  for  a  law,  and  to  Israel 
for  an  everlasting  covenant :  saying,  unto  thee  will  I  give  the 
Land  of  Canaan,  the  lot  of  your  inheritance  ;  when  ye  were 
but  few  even  a  few,  and  strangers  in  it." 

Thus  instructed  as  to  the  nature  of  the  service  they  were 
engaging  in,  w^e  may  appreciate  the  spirit  of  that  prophetic 
song  in  which,  as  the  national  procession  with  the  ark  and 
Jehovah's  brightness  on  its  cover,  approached  the  nev;ly  won 
capital,  they  ''lifted  up  the  voice  with  joy"  as  the  "voice  of 
many  Avaters"  under  the  lead  of  Chenaniah,  singing, — "  Lift 
up  your  heads,  0  ye  gates,  and  be  ye  lifted  up  ye  everlast- 
ing doors,  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in." — x\nd  when 
the  choir  stationed  under  Heman  or  Asaph  at  the  gate  to 
receive  the  procession,  shout  back  the  inquiry  "  Who  is 
this  King  of  Glory?"  the  mighty  shout  of  the  glad  my- 
riads that  follow  answers  back,  in  a  voice  of  music  that 
shakes  Mount    Zion,    '  The   Lord,  strong  and  mighty — the 

K 


146  THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

Lord  mighty  in  battle — the  Lord  of  Hosts,  he  is  the  King  of 
Glorj." 

It  is  very  manifest,  therefore,  that  David,  and,  through  tlie 
inspired  writings  of  David,  the  people  generally,  fully  appre- 
ciated the  greatness  of  the  epoch  marked  by  the  conquest  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  complete  possession  of  Canaan.  They 
expressly  declare  their  recognition  of  the  new  era  in  the 
recital  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham  and  its  fulfilment  at  last, 
in  the  triumphal  song  as  they  carried  up  the  ark.  Another 
cycle  of  the  history  of  redemption  is  completed. 

And  now  looking  backward  and  forward  from  this  point,  we 
discover  that,  on  the  one  hand,  we  have  the  interpretation  of 
all  the  mysteries  of  Providence  in  his  dealings  with  the  people 
since  Moses,  by  way  of  preparing  for  this  kingdom  under 
David  :  and  all  the  mysteries  of  his  dealings  with  David,  by 
way  of  training  him,  in  the  school  of  sorrow  and  affliction,  to 
the  heroic  faith  of  Abraham  as  a  preparation  for  the  position 
he  is  noAV  to  occupy — a  position  analogous  to  Abraham's  as 
the  head  of  a  covenant.  On  the  other  hand,  looking  forward 
we  find  here,  in  this  revelation  to  David,  through  Nathan,  the 
clue  to  the  interpretation  of  all  the  prophecies  that  follow,  of 
the  coming  of  Messiah :  and  here  also  the  starting  point  of 
that  new  style  of  thought  and  speech,  and  the  new  develop- 
ments of  the  Eden  promise  of  the  seed  of  the  woman,  which 
characterize  all  subsequent  revelations. 

It  was  under  this  wide  view  of  the  moral  position  of  Israel, 
after  four  hundred  years  of  straggles  and  delays  and  failures, 
now  in  full  realization  of  the  promise  fulfilled  at  last :  and 
under  the  influence  of  the  high  and  holy  excitement  of  loca- 
ting the  ark  in  Jerusalem,  and  reorganizing  its  priests  and 
Levites  for  perpetual  service  before  it,  that  this  idea  of  a  per- 
manent palace  for  Jehovah  occurred  to  David. 

It  was,  therefore,  no  mere  qjiestion  of  aesthetics  as  applied 
to  religion,  nor  any  mere  grateful  impulse  of  desire  to  show 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    COVENANT    HISTORICALLY.      147 

\  personal  love  for  Jcliovah.  It  is  the  profound  reasoning 
0'  )nc  "vvho  sees  a  grand  cycle  of  providences  completed  and 
of  promises  fulfilled,  and  a  new  era  opened.  It  comes  of 
Db.  id's  reasoning  with  himself,  that  if  the  settled  state,  in  full 
poS' vssion  of  the  promised  inheritance,  is  indicated  at  last  by 
a  gc  geous  permanent  palace  for  David,  the  king,  in  a  perma- 
nent ;apital,  then  should  it  not  be  indicated  also  by  a  gorgeous 
perm  ment  palace  for  Jehovah,  the  real  king,  instead  of  this 
mere  tent  which  speaks  still  of  travel  and  struggle  and  unrest  ? 
Nay  .vill  not  the  people,  in  their  admiration  of  David's  palace 
of  cedar,  lose  sight  of  the  great  fact  that  Jehovah  is  the  real 
king,  unless  his  palace  excites  similar  attention  ? 

It  was  in  response  to  these  humble  and  yet  profound  ques- 
tions of  how  the  ancient  gospel,  preached  to  the  fathers, 
should  now  be  adapted  in  its  forms  to  the  new  era  of  the 
Canaan  promise  fulfilled,  that  this  revelation  through  Nathan 
was  made.  Interpreted  in  this  light  it  at  once  becomes  plain 
and  at  the  same  time  swells  to  a  grandeur  of  view,  and  an 
infinity  of  reach  that  at  once  exalts  it  as  worthy  to  form  the 
germ  from  which  to  develop  all  the  succeedmg  prophetic 
revelations  of  Messiah,  as  a  King  seated  upon  an  eternal 
throne.  Now  we  can  understand  why  David  was  overcome 
with  ecstasy  of  emotion.  Why  he  thought  that  all  which 
Jehovah  had  done  for  him  in  raising  him  to  a  throne  was  a 
small  thing  compared  with  this  new  covenant  promise.  Why 
he  felt  himself  now  exalted  to  the  position  of  the  Adam,  in 
that,  like  Adam  and  Noah  and  Abraham,  he  had  been 
selected  to  stand  as  the  great  representative  and  typical  man, 
and  the  starting  point  of  a  new  covenant,  in  the  grand  series 
through  which  the  scheme  of  redemption  was  to  be  developed 
to  men. 

The  substance  of  the  whole  transaction  here  is  this  :  That 
the  seed  of  promise  in  all  the  old  covenants  having  now  be- 
come a  fully  organized  nation,  and  put  in  full  possession  of  the 


148  THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

promised  inheritance,  Jehovah  now  enters  into  a  covenant  with 
David  whereby  the  nation  is  organized  as  a  typical  kingdom, 
and  the  house  of  David  appointed  to  reign  through  successive 
generations,  as  typical  kings,  until  the  great  Antitype  should 
come  to  reign  over  that  universal  spiritual  commonwealth 
of  which  the  kingdom  of  Israel  is  the  type.  This  becomes, 
therefore,  a  new  and  additional  development  of  the  relation j 
and  office  of  the  promised  Deliverer  to  the  faith  of  the  church. 
Before,  he  has  been  revealed,  in  every  age,  as  her  Prophet, 
to  reveal  the  will  of  God.  Thus  was  he  revealed  in  all  th3 
Theophanies  of  the  Patriarchal  era,  in  the  Sinai  revelations, 
and  in  the  oracles  of  the  Theocratic  era.  Before,  he  has  been 
revealed,  in  every  age,  as  her  Priest.  So  he  was  reveale  i 
in  all  the  varieties  of  the  ritual  of  atonement  by  sacrifice. 
Now  he  is  revealed  also  as  her  King,  to  rule  his  chosen  people 
and  conquer  all  enemies.  And  henceforth,  while  faith  con- 
templates him  none  the  less  as  Prophet  and  Priest,  it  contem- 
plates him  chiefly  as  coming  in  his  Kingly  office  to  gather  out 
of  all  nations  and  all  ages  a  great  spiritual  kingdom  as  the 
result  of  his  prophetic  and  priestly  work. 

With  this  view  of  the  revelation  by  Nathan  and  the  cov- 
enant with  David  kept  distinctly  in  mind,  as  you  read  the 
subsequent  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  even  the  New, 
you  will  find  much  of  the  obscurity  removed  which  may  have 
heretofore  invested  them. 

Thus  for  instance,  the  numerous  Psalms  relating  to  the 
king  and  the  eternal  throne  which  otherwise  are  full  of  dark 
sayings,  often  made  still  darker  by  the  theories  of  the  critics 
for  interpreting  them  in  a  "  double  sense,"  or  for  determining 
whether  they  are  "  Messianic  Psalms,"  all  now  become  simple 
and  easy  of  comprehension,  as  the  utterances  of  faith  founded 
upon  the  covenant,  organizhig  Israel  as  a  type  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom,  and  setting  up  David  and  his  royal  line  as  the  typo 
of  the  Great  Kinir  to  arise  out  of  his  line.  '  Indeed  it  will  be 


KEY    TO    PROPHETS    AND    EVANGELISTS.  149 

found  that  this  covenant  seems  to  modify  all  the  forms  of 
speech  concerning  the  Deliverer  to  come.  And  thereby  the 
intelligent  Christian  may,  without  any  special  knowledge  of 
Biblical  literature,  determine  in  many  cases  whether  a  psalm 
was  composed  anterior  to  this  covenant  with  David  or  sub- 
sequent to  it,  by  its  very  style  of  thought  and  expression 
concerning  the  coming  of  Christ.  If  before,  the  forms  of 
expression  correspond  to  the  language  of  the  ancient  Saints, 
anterior  to  David  :  and  if  after  this,  a  new  style  of  language 
and  thought  is  employed  almost  as  distinct  from  the  former 
as  is  the  language  and  thought  of  the  gospel  of  Matthew 
from  that  of  Malachi  or  Isaiah. 

This  explains,  too,  the  purpose  and  application  of  all  those 
Psalms  %'elating  to  the  King  who  is  to  rule  in  righteousness, 
and  the  reason  of  that  apparent  confusion  of  time  in  which 
the  references  to  the  period  of  his  reign  is  at  first  sight 
involved — seeming  to  shade  off  insensibly  from  the  temporal 
into  the  eternal,  and  from  the  finite  into  the  infinite.  Just  as 
the  Lamb  of  the  sacrifice  ever  and  anon  assumes  the  spiritual 
significancy  of  the  Lamb  of  God  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world  :  just  as  the  mercy  seat  and  the  Cherubim  and  the 
brightness  become  the  throne  of  Jehovah,  with  the  living 
creatures,  and  Jehovah  high  and  lifted  up ;  so,  continually, 
David  and  the  kings  of  his  line  merge  ever,  in  the  songs  of 
praise  and  in  the  visions  of  the  Prophets,  henceforth,  into 
the  King  whose  "  name  shall  endure  as  long  as  the  sun,  and 
his  dominion  from  sea  to  sea." 

Here  is  the  explanation  of  what  has,  no  doubt,  often 
puzzled  many  of  you  :  namely,  how  to  separate  in  idea  what 
seems  to  be  said  of  David,  in  such  Psalms  as  the  twenty- 
second,  and  of  Solomon  in  such  Psalms  as  the  twenty-first, 
fortvy-fifth,  and  seventy-second,  from  what  is  meant  to  be 
said  concerning:;  Messiah. 

The  difficulty  of  conceiving  how  David  or  Solomon,  in  any 


150  THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

given  case,  is  a  type  of  Christ  is  removed  by  calling  to  mind 
that^  by  this  great  covenant  with  David,  he  and  the  kings  of 
his  line  are  constituted  types  of  the  spiritual  king,  as  Israel, 
ruled  by  Jehovah  visibly  present,  is  a  type  of  the  eternal 
spiritual  commonwealth. 

The  right  comprehension  of  this  covenant  with  David  ex- 
plains to  us  also  the  importance  of  Solomon  and  the  prominent 
place  given  him  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  question  occurs 
to  one  reading  the  story  of  Solomon — How  comes  it  that  he 
should  stand  typically  to  represent  Christ  ?  True  he  was 
very  wise  and  learned  ;  but  he  was  also  very  foolish  and 
licentious.  True  he  was  inspired  to  write  a  portion  of  the 
scriptures  :  but  so  were  others  far  less  eminent  than  he  ;  and 
even  Balaam  was  inspired  to  utter  one  of  the  most  glorious 
of  all  the  Old  Testament  prophecies.  True,  he  w^as  the 
builder  of  the  Temple  which  David  proposed  to  build,  and  the 
splendor  and  magnificence  of  his  public  works  mark  his  reign 
as  the  Augustan  age  of  Israel :  but  David  had  gathered  for 
him,  by  his  toils  and  conquests,  the  wealth  which  ho  lavished, 
and  David  had  organized  anew  the  magnificent  Temple  ser- 
vice, all  ready  to  be  set  in  motion  with  the  now  Temple. 
True,  his  reign  was  a  reign  of  peace,  and  filled  the  earth 
with  the  fame  of  the  great  monarch.  But  it  was  David 
whose  statesmanship  had  re-organized  the  kingdom  and 
appointed  the  whole  system  of  administration.  So  far  from 
being  the  greatest  constitutional  king  of  Israel,  considered 
simply  as  a  statesman,  and  politically  speaking,  Solomon  was 
probably  the  worst  of  all  the  bad  kings  of  David's  line.  He 
subverted  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  left  the  government 
ready  to  drop  to  pieces  in  the  hands  of  his  imbecile  son. 
And  yet  great  prominence  is  given  to  Solomon  and  his  works 
as  a  marked  era  in  the  history  of  Redemption. 

It  was  simply  this  covenant  w^tli  David  that  gave  Solomon 
his  prominence  as  the  executor  of  Jehovah's  purpose  revealed 


KEY    TO    PROPHETS    AXl)    EVANGELISTS.  1-1)1 

to  David,  for  the  remoulding  ot  tli3  national  system  into  a 
type  of  that  spiritual  kingdom  over  which  David's  son  shall 
roigu.  Only  as  ho  stood  first  in  the  line  of  promise  accord- 
ing to  the  covenant  with  David  and  as  an  inspired  writer,  did 
he  diiTer  from  any  of  the  kings  who  succeeded  him. 

You  will  observe  that  from  this  time  forward  the  chief 
purpose  of  the  prophetic  teachings  and  revelations  is  to 
develop  the  nature,  the  functions  and  the  destiny  of  this 
peculiar  typical  kingdom,  organized  by  the  covenant  with 
David,  under  the  administration  of  the  great  Founder  and 
Kiiig  typified  in  David's  royal  line.  The  key  note  to  which 
t!io  harp  of  prophecy  is  attuned  henceforth  is  "  Thy  throne^ 
Oil  God,  is  forever  and  ever,  a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the 
tceptre  of  thy  Idngdom.'^^  The  fundamental  form  of  the 
Ciiurch's  theology  is  moulded  in  this  promise  of  a  coming  King 
to  administer  a  universal  kingdom.  The  Church  gospel 
becomes  a  proclamation,  as  in  Isaiah,  "  I  will  make  an  ever- 
lasting covenant  with  you  according  to  the  sure  mercies  of 
David."  As  this  conception  of  a  spiritual  kingdom  to  come 
is  that  v>-ith  which  the  series  of  Old  Testament  revelations 
closes,  so  it  is  that  with  which  the  New  Testament  opens, 
oksus  has  come  to  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  father  David,  is 
the  grand  annunciation  at  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God. 

"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  "  is  the  first  New  Testa- 
ment preaching.  This  kingdom  according  to  the  covenant 
with  David,  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  kingdom  of  God, 
was  the  grand  subject  of  the  preaching  of  Jesus  during  his 
personal  ministry.  It  furnished  the  charge,  upon  which  he 
was  tried  and  condemned,  that  he  made  himself  a  king.  He 
denied  not  the  accusation,  but  said  "  my  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world.''  It  was  this  truth  of  his  Kingship  that,  so  far 
as  his  death  was  a  martyrdom,  he  died  to  attest.  Nay,  his 
enemies  sarcastically  poured  contempt  upon  him  by  placard- 
ing it  upon  his  cross  "  This  is  the  king  of  the  Jews."     The 


152    THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

grand  fact  first  proclaimed  by  the  Apostles  after  his  ascension 
and  the  outpouring  of  the  spirit  was,  "  Him  hath  God  exalt- 
ed to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour."  The  last  vision  of  him 
bj  mortal  eye  is  as  the  "  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne." 
And  the  last  gospel  that  closes  up  revelation,  comes  from 
Jesus  as  "  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David." 

In  these  days  of  very  loose  notions  of  the  Church,  and  of 
its  nature  as  a  distinct  spiritual  government,  the  important 
fact  seems  to  be  too  commonly  overlooked  that  the  doctrine 
of  Jesus  as  a  King,  and  the  Founder  of  a  government,  consti- 
tutes the  last  and  highest  development  of  the  mediatorship  of 
Messiah,  and  the  chief  burden  of  all  the  prophets  concerning 
him  from  the  time  of  the  covenant  with  David  forward. 

And  while  the  modern  theology  seems  to  give  a  secondary 
place  to  the  doctrine  of  the  kingship  of  Christ,  and  the  co- 
relative  doctrine  of  the  Church  as  his  separate  and  distinct 
spiritual  kingdom  on  earth,  the  scriptures,  on  the  contrary, 
give  to  the  Kingship  of  Christ  a  prominence  greater,  even, 
than  to  his  office  as  Prophet  and  Priest  of  the  Church.  In 
fact,  in  the  scriptures,  Jesus  Christ  is  exhibited  as  the 
Prophet  who  reveals  all  and  the  Priest  who  redeems  all,  in 
order  that  he  may  be  the  King  that  rules  all.  So  far  from 
being  a  mere  incident  of  the  gospel  plan,  or  a  mere  deduction 
from  its  theology  that  there  should  be  such  an  institution  as  the 
Church  for  the  benefit  of  believers,  ic  is  an  essential  feature 
of  the  scheme,  to  the  development  of  which  a  whole  era  of 
revelation  from  David  to  Christ  was  devot,  d.  So  far  from 
coming  merely  as  a  Socrates  or  Plato,  to  teach  a  doctrine 
which  naturally  leads  its  disciples  to  band  themselves  together 
for  mutual  benefit,  Jesus  Chriot  came  as  a  Divine  Solon,  also 
to  be  a  lawgiver  and  the  founder  of  a  government  on  the 
earth.  The  governmental  element  in  this  gospel  scheme  is 
fundamental  in  it,  and  was  as  carefully  developed  as  its 
theology  of  atonement.     Xot  more  elaborately  did  Jehovah 


DOCTRINE  OF  CIIKIST's  KINGSUIP  FUNDAMENTAL.    153 

institute  types  and  symbols  in  the  successive  covenants  with 
Adam  and  Noah  and  Abraham  and  Israel,  under  Moses,  to 
set  forth  to  the  view  of  faith  the  great  trutlis  of  vicarious 
atimement  for  sin,  of  a  peculiar  people  to  be  gathered  for 
himself  out  of  the  fallen  race,  and  of  a  regeneration  of  the 
nature  ;  than  did  he  institute  special  types  and  symbols  in  his 
great  covenant  with  David,  to  teach  that  this  people  should 
constitute  a  peculiar  spiritual  commonwealth,  with  constitu- 
tion, laws  and  ordinances,  presided  over  directly  by  the 
Mediatorial  King. 

This  view  of  the  matter  not  only  explains  to  us  the  position 
of  David,  as  a  great  representative  man  like  Adam,  Noah, 
Moses  and  Abraham,  in  the  history  of  redemption,  but 
explains  to  us  also  why  this  aspect  of  the  gospel  blessing  as 
an  organized  government,  should  be  the  prominent  aspect  of 
it  at  the  opening  of  the  New  Testament  ;  and  why  in  the 
preaching  of  John  Baptist,  and  Jesus,  and  in  the  current 
thought  and  speech  of  the  people,  the  gospel  blessings,  in  ful- 
filment of  all  the  old  covenants,  should  be  sp.oken  of  as  ^^  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  The  reason  is  that  this  had  been  the 
last  and  highest  development  of  the  covenant  of  grace  up  to 
that  time.  Relatively  to  the  ancient  covenants  with  Adam, 
Noah  and  Israel  under  Moses,  this  covenant  with  David  and 
the  prophetic  teachings,  which  developed  it  constituted,  as  we 
would  say,  the  "  New  Testament"  of  the  ancient  Church  down 
to  the  era  of  the  Evangelists.  And  just  as  we,  while  accept- 
ing all  the  revelations  concerning  the  Covenant  of  Grace, 
naturally  conform  our  thought  and  speech  concerning  it  to 
the  style  of  the  Apostles  from  whom  we  have  the  last  and 
highest  development  of  it ;  so  the  Church  of  the  era  of  John 
Baptist  and  Jesus  naturally  conformed  their  thought  and 
speech  to  that  which  was  their  New  Testament  or  last  deve- 
lopment of  it ;  namely,  the  covenant  with  David  and  the 
teaching  of  the  prophets  under  it.   And  all  of  these  specially 


154    THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

aimed  to  exhibit  the  governmental  element  of  the  covenant  of 
grace  and  the  kingly  office  of  Christ.  And  in  addition  to 
this,  the  covenant  with  David  was,  in  fact,  a  great  step  pre- 
paratory to  the  Incarnation,  and  the  change  of  the  Church  of 
one  nation  into  the  Church  of  all  nations.  Nay,  paradoxical  as 
it  may  seem,  the  very  overthrow  of  the  typical  nation  and  the 
typical  line  of  David,  by  the  power  of  heathen  conquerors, 
was  itself  a  grand  essential  preparation  for  this  actual  setting 
up  of  the  purely  spiritual  commonwealth  which  should  cast  its 
lines  across  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  tongues  ;  and  the 
near  approach  of  such  a  consummation  necessarily  gave  promi- 
nence to  that  special  phase  of  the  gospel  system.  So  that 
both  the  burden  of  the  scriptures  which  stood  to  them  as  their 
New  Testament,  and  the  sayings  of  the  times,  continued  to 
make  "the  kingdom  of  heaven"  the  uppermost  thought  when 
the  gospel  promises  were  the  subject  of  consideration  by  the 
people.  And,  adapting  his  teaching  to  the  wants  of  the  time, 
Jesus,  in  all  his  discourses,  his  parables  and  private  conversa- 
sations,  dwelt  continually  upon  the  theme  of  "  kingdom  of 
heaven  "  and  the  "  kingdom  of  God." 

Many  and  various  practical  lessons  are  suggested  from  this 
view  of  the  prominence  of  David,  and  the  special  constitution 
of  David  and  his  kingdom  as  the  type-of  the  gospel  kingdom- 
two  or  three  of  which,  only,  I  have  space  left  to  notice. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  manifest  that  all  those  views  of 
religion  are  very  defective  which  ignore  the  churchly  and 
governmental  aspect  of  the  gospel  system  ;  and  which  seem 
to  regard  nothing  else  essential  in  the  gospel  than  certain  fun- 
damental truths  of  theology  and  ethical  precepts.  Whereas 
the  entire  purport  and  scope  of  the  last  and  highest  develop- 
ments of  the  covenant  of  grace,  is  to  the  effect  that  the  man 
who  truly  exercises  faith  in  Christ  is  thereby  born  into  a 
community  and  made  a  citizen  of  the  great  spiritual  common- 
wealth of  Jesus  Christ  the  King.     And  to  ignore  this  feature 


TEXDEXCr    TO    IGNORE    THE    GOSPEL    CllUliCii.    ioo 

of  the  gospel  i3  practically  to  igaore  not  merely  certain  texts 
of  scripture  but  whole  sections  of  the  scriptures.  True, 
indeed,  an  unspiritual  Formalism  has  perverted  these  teach- 
ing(3,  and  magnified  the  Church  above  all  that  is  called  gospel. 
But  the  same  unspiritual  Formalism  has  utterly  perverted  also 
the  great  doctrines  of  Atonement,  justification  by  faith,  and 
regeneration  of  the  soul.  And  the  perversions  of  the  truth 
in  the  one  case,  no  more  than  in  the  otlier,  can  constitute  any 
apology  for  undervaluing  or  ignoring  the  truths  which  Christ 
has  made  fundamental.  The  No-churchism  which  recognizes 
no  Divinely  appointed  Church  government  with  iis  laws  and 
ordinances,  is  scarcely  less  fatal  to  the  trutli  of  Christ,  than 
the  nigh-churchism  which  makes  the  authority  of  the  Church, 
and  obedience  to  the  Church,  the  sum  and  substance  of  Chris- 
tian faith  and  practice.  Wliile  it  is  schismatical  and  sinful 
to  stickle  for  the  incidentals  of  the  Church  to  the  breach  of 
Christian  unity,  it  is  none  the  less  inconsistent  with  true  and 
enlightened  gospel  faith  to  treat  with  latitudinarian  contempt, 
as  trifles,  that  which  Christ  hath  ordained  as  part  of  the  order 
of  his  spiritual  kingdom. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  equally  manifest  that  this  great 
spiritual  commonwealth  which  is  the  last  and  highest  develop- 
ment of  the  covenant  of  grace ;  for  the  exposition  of  which, 
to  the  faith  of  the  people,  the  kingdom  of  David  Avas  consti- 
tuted a  type,  and  which  Jesus  came  to  consummate  ;  is  a 
"kingdom  not  of  this  world;"  .nor  is  it  capable  of  being 
Mended  with  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  ;  nor  can  its  agencies 
and  ordiiiances  be  properly  used  for  the  ends  and  objects  of 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world ;  nor  are  its  limits  to  be  set  in 
accordance  with  the  limits  of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  ; 
nor  should  its  unity  be  marred  by  the  strifes  of  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world.  Its  powers  are  altogether  distinct  from  those 
powers  Avith  which  God,  the  Creator,  hath  invested  the  rulers 
of  the  world-kingdoms  and  commonwealths,  however,  in  some- 


156    THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

incidents,  they  may  have  similar  aims  and  ends.  It  is  of  the 
essential  nature  of  this  spiritual  commonwealth,  in  which  the 
Son  of  David  reigns,  that  it  recognizes  no  distinction  of  "Jew 
•or  Greek,  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor  free,"  that  it  have 
no  respect  to  civil  and  political  divisions  of  human  society  ; 
.and  that  it  allow  no  political  strifes  to  mar  its  essential  unity. 

In  the  third  place,  it  is  manifest  that  every  true  believer 
in  Jesus  Christ  is  brought  by  his  conversion,  not  only  to  new 
views  of  truth  and  a  new  practice  of  ethics,  but;  unto  new 
spiritual  relations  as  a  fellow-citizen  Avith  the  saints. 

And  while  he  still  owes  the  same  duties  of  allegiance  and 
obedience  which  he  owed  before  as  a  citizen  of  this  or  that 
nation ;  and  all  the  same  duties  as  a  man,  to  his  fellow- 
citizens  ;  he  has  assumed  new  relations,  and  become  a  citizen 
•of  a  "better  kingdom, even  a  heavenly  ;"  he  owes  allegiance 
to  Jesus  Christ  its  head  ;  and  duties  to  his  fellow-citizens,  the 
saints  which,  though  they  are  not  to  be  enforced  wdth  pains 
and  penalties,  are  none  the  less  sacred  and  binding  on  the 
conscience.  Nor  is  it  treason  any  the  less  base  to  conspire 
•with,  "aid  and  abet"  the  king's  enemies,  when  it  is  the 
spiritual,  than  when  it  is  the  secular  ruler.  Nor  is  it  dis- 
honesty any  the  less  to  fail  to  discharge  the  duties  one  owes 
to  his  fellow-citizens  of  the  heavenly,  than  of  the  earthly 
kingdom. 

It  is  in  this  doctrine  of  a  gospel  kingdom — a  fully  organ- 
ized spiritual  government,  of  which  believers  are  citizens, — 
and  not  in  the  sense  of  any  mere  vague  Platonic  sentiment, 
that  those  constantly  repeated  injunctions  of  the  gospel  to 
^'love  one  another"  are  founded.  And  every  thing  that 
tends  to  obscure  this  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  government,  or 
misapply  the  holy  agencies  and  ordinances  to  secular  ends, 
tends  in  so  far,  precisely,  to  mar  or  destroy  the  holy  com- 
munion of  saints. 

The  Apostles  Paul  and  Peter,  and  Jolm  utter  no  mere 


TENDENCY    TO    IGNOKE    THE    GOSPEL    CnURCH.  157 

common-places  of  sentiment,  wlien  they  declare  "  Love  that 
worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbour  is  the  fulfilling-  of  the  law;'* 
that  we  should  "  above  all  things  have  fervent  charity  among, 
ourselves,  for  charity  shall  cover  a  multitude  of  sins  :"  and 
that  the  sum  of  all  the  message  from  God  is  that  '•  he  who 
loveth  God  shall  love  his  neighbour  also" — yea,  '•  that  we 
ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren." 

These  exhortations  are  to  a  great  fundamental  Christian 
duty  whose  ground  lies  in  the  very  nature  of  the  gospel 
scheme  of  salvation,  as  organizing  a  community,  a  new  social 
relation — a  kingdom  of  which  David's  kingdom  was  set  to  be 
the  type. 

In  the  fourth  place,  you  will  perceive  that  the  view  here 
presented  of  the  kingdom  and  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
fundamental,  and  so  important  as  to  form  the  grand  point  to. 
be  developed  in  the  last  and  most  advanced  of  the  series  of 
Old  Testament  covenants,  has  a  very  important  application 
to  the  peculiar  tendency  of  our  times  in  the  direction  of  an 
organized  and  combined  evangelical  effort  which  ignores  the 
churchly  idea  of  the  gospel,  and  proposes,  by  mere  human 
wisdom,  to  contrive  agencies  for  doing  the  gospel  work  of  the 
Church.  For  manifestly  this  theory  of  Christian  action  involves- 
more  than  any  mere  inexpediency.  However  unconsciously 
the  error  may  be  entertained,  the  theory  involves  fundamental 
error  in  theology.  It  ignores,  as  of  no  consequence,  a  great 
principle  of  the  scheme  of  redemption,  to  the  development 
of  which  an  entire  series  of  its  revelations  was  devoted  through 
a  thousand  years  of  its  history ;  a  principle  which  gave  its 
peculiar  phase  to  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  It  implies  an  error,, 
in  regard  to  the  Kingly  office  of  Christ,  analagous  to  that  of 
all  the  ethical  gospels  in  regard  to  his  Priestly  office  ;  and  to 
that  of  the  Rationalists  in  regard  to  his  Prophetic  office.  It 
is  founded  upon  the  seeming  assumption  that,  in  regnrd  to 
that  phase  of  the  gospel  which  implies  a  Church  divinely^ 


158  THE  CHURCH  TYPIFIED  AS  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

founded  and  entrusted  with  the  gospel  agencies,  it  is  a  failure. 
Independent  of  the  arrogant  claim  to  substitute  humanly 
devised  gospel  agents  and  agencies  for  those  which  Christ 
appointed  ;  independent  of  the  claim  to  do  by  the  popular 
suffrage  of  Christians  what  Popes  and  councils  may  not  do  in 
the  spiritual  kingdom  ;  independent  of  the  impolicy  of  giving 
colour  to  the  popular  infidel  cry — "  the  Church  is  a  failure;'^ 
independent  of  aiding  Rationalism  to  subvert  the  gospel,  by 
thus  sundering  what  God  hath  joined  together — the  gospel 
truth,  from  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  the  "  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth  ;"  this  tendency  to  human  contrivings  for 
carrying  on  the  gospel  work  grows  out  of  a  fundamental  and 
dangerous  error  of  theology. 

The  doctrine  of  Christ  our  Priest  is  indeed  the  directly 
vital  truth  of  our  subjective  theology ;  and  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  our  Prophet  the  directly  vital  truth  of  our  objective 
theology.  But  neither  of  these  can  be  properly  expounded, 
nor  long  maintained  in  their  purity,  if  we  ignore  the  doctrine 
of  Christ  our  King,  and  the  Church  his  "  kingdom  not  of  this 
world." 


DISCOURSE  YIII. 

THE    GOSPEL   OF   THE   KINGDOM   IN   CONFLICT  WITH  AN 
APOSTATE    CHURCH  :    AND    WITH    DESPONDING   FAITH. 

I  Kings  xviii.  17-20,  and  xix  1-4,  8,  12-14. — And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
Ahab  saw  Elijah,  thatAhab  said  unto  him.  Art  thou  he  that  troubleth 
Israel  ?  And  he  answered,  I  have  not  troubled  Israel ;  but  thou,  and  thj 
fathers'  house,  in  that  ye  have  forsaken  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  and 
thou  hast  followed  Baalim.  Now  therefore  send,  and  gather  to  me  all 
Israel  unto  Mount  Carmel,  and  the  prophets  of  Baal  four  hundred  and 
tifty,  &c. 

And  Elijah  came  unto  all  the  people,  and  said,  How  long  halt  ye  between 
two  opinions,  if  the  Lord  be  God  follow  him:  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him- 
And  the  people  answered  him  not  a  word,  &c. 

And  Ahab  told  Jezebel  all  that  Elijah  had  done,  and  withal  how  he  had 
slain  all  the  prophets  with  the  sword.  Then  Jezebel  sent  a  messenger  unto 
Elijah,  saying,  so  let  the  Gods  do  to  me,  and  more  also  if  I  make  not  thy 
life  as  the  life  of  one  of  them         ♦         *         * 

And  he  arose  and  went  for  his  life  ♦  *  *  And  came  and  sat  down 
under  a  juniper  tree  :  and  he  requested  for  himself  that  he  might  die. 

And  he  arose,  and  did  eat  and  drink,  and  went  in  the  strength  of  that 
meat  forty  days  and  forty  nights  unto  Horeb,  the  Mount  of  God. 

And  behold  the  Lord  passed  by  and  a  great  and  strong  wind  rcut  the 
mountains,  and  brake  in  pieces  the  rocks  before  the  Lord  ;  but  the  Lord 
was  not  in  the  wind  ;  and  after  the  wind  an  earthquake  ;  but  the  Lord  was 
not  in  the  earthquake  ;  and  after  the  earthquake  a  fire ;  but  the  Lord  was 
not  in  the  fire  ;  and  after  the  fire  a  still  small  voice.  And  it  was  so,  when 
Elijah  heard  it,  that  li^^  wrapped  his  face  in  his  mantle  and  went  out,  and 
stood  at  the  entering  ..i  of  the  cave,  and  behold  there  came  a  voice  unto 
him,  and  said,  what  do-  -t  thou  here,  Elijah  ?  And  he  said  I  have  been  very 
jealous  for  the  Lord  God  of  hosts  :  because  the  children  of  Israel  have  for- 
saken thy  covenant,  thrown  down  thy  altars  and  slain  thy  prophets  with 
the  sword ;  and  I,  even  T  only,  am  left,  and  they  seek  my  life  to  take  it 
away. 


160    GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

PART   I. THE    GOSPEL    OP   THE   KINGDOM    IN    CONPLICT    WITH 

AN   APOSTATE   CIITJiiOP^. 

It  is  not  yet  qui^e  a  century  since  the  modification  of  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel,  under  the  covenant  with  David,  Avas 
completed.  Four  hundred  and  thirty  years  from  the  cove- 
nant with  Abraham,  and  four  hundred  and  thirty  more  from 
the  constitutions  of  Moses  was  that  kin;]i;dom  in  buildino- ; 
and  yet  within  thirty  years,  after  the  completion  of  the  modi- 
fications under  Solomon,  which  set  it  forth  as  the  typical 
kingdom,  it  had  fallen  asunder  in  the  unskillful  hands  of 
Solomon's  imbecile  son. 

The  sad  tale  of  the  northern  kingdom,  from  its  separation, 
is  soon  told.  Wily  Jeroboam,  a  refugee  in  Egypt,  raised  up 
of  God  to  be  the  scourge  of  the  follies  of  Solomon,  no  sooner 
found  himself  monarch  of  Northern  Israel  than,  like  many  a 
Royal  "  Defender  of  the  faith^''  after  him,  he  must  t*ake  in 
hand  the  religion  of  his  subjects  ;  and,  tampering  with  God's 
ordinances,  modify  them  to  suit  his  political  interests.  Fear- 
ful of  the  influence  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  if  the  people 
continued  to  go  up  thither  three  times  a  year,  and  forgetting 
to  trust  Jehovah,  Avhohad  given  him  the  throne,  he  proceeded 
to  set  up  a  more  convenient  worship  at  Bethel  and  at  Dan 
within  his  own  limits.  And  to  make  it  attractive  he  modified 
the  form  of  worshipping  Jehovah  after  the  fashion  of  the 
*'^  advanced  thought"  and  refined  civilization  of 'Egypt; 
representing  him  by  the  Egyptian  symbols  of  Apis — the 
golden  calves.  But  to  conform  sufficiently  with  the  current 
worship  to  ease  the  pubhc  conscience,  he  appointed  holy 
times,  as  well  as  holy  places,  difiercnt  from  those  at  Jerusa- 
lem. He  set  up  high  places  of  worship,  in  Samaria  and  else- 
where, as  rivals  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  He  organized 
a  priesthood,  also,  for  the  new  religion,  selecting  for  the 
office  "  the  lowest  of  the  people  :  "  for  such  would  give  him 


HISTORY    OF    THE    APOSTASY.  161 

least  trouble  "svith  their  scruples,  and  would  be  bound  to  him 
by  all  the  obligations  of  official  creatures  to  their  creator ; 
so  that  he  might  rely  securely  upon  their  sycophancy,  sub- 
serviency and  loyalty  to  himself. 

'•  "What  odds  about  the  form  of  worship,  if  still  we  worship 
in  substance  the  true  God?"  would  Jeroboam  argue  against 
the  scrupulous  old  Covenanters  who  stickled  for  the  covenants 
of  Abraham,  Moses  and  David.  "  Why  trouble  ye  the  peace 
of  the  nation,  when  the  government,  reverencing  religion  as 
essential  to  virtue,  and  virtue  to  liberty,  and,  therefore, 
as  in  duty  bound,  aiming  to  promote  religion — presents  it  in 
convenient  reach  of  the  people,  and  clothed  in  those  decent 
and  attractive  forms  which  befit  an  advanced  era  of  civiUza- 
tion  ?  As  to  going  up  to  Jerusalem  three  times  a  year — 
everybody  knows  that  the  worship  at  Jerusalem  is  a  novelty 
of  the  David  family,  and  that  our  venerated  fathers  worship- 
ped, not  at  Jerusalem,  but  at  Shiloh,  and  elsewhere,  within 
the  present  limits  of  northern  Israel.  And  as  to  these  scru- 
ples about  changing  the  time  of  the  feast,  what  sane  man  can 
think  it  of  importance  enough  to  scruple  about,  whether  a 
feast  be  in  the  seventh  month,  or  the  eighth  month  ?  True  a 
prophet  of  Jehovah  denounced  Jeroboam  and  his  altar,  rend- 
ing it  with  a  word,  and  scattering  the  ashes  :  and  palsied  the 
arm  of  the  king,  fiercely  thrust  forth  to  seize  him  ;  but  did 
he  not  restore  the  arm  again  at  the  king's  request  ?  and  did 
not  the  impertinent  prophet  meet  with  bad  luck  on  his  way 
home — a  lion  seizing  upon  him  and  slaying  him  ?" 

And,  reasoning  after  the  manner  of  the  modern  no-church- 
ism,  that  takes  the  Bible  only  for  substance  of  doctrine,  and 
claims  that  Jehovah's  appointment  of  ordinances  and  times  of 
worship — the  priesthood  of  worship  and  the  ritual  of  worship 
— is  no  bar  to  any  little  modifications  that  may  make  our  wor- 
ship more  attractive  and  impressive — it  is  difficult  to  gainsay 
Jeroboam's  argument.     But,  whether  difficult  or  not,  Jero- 

L 


162    GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

Iboam  had  the  semi-mfidel  mob  as  the  tribunal  of  judgment, 
and  the  power  of  tlie  sword  at  his  back  to  enforce  his  logic  ; 
no  marvel,  therefore,  if  the  scrupulous  old  Covenanters  were 
triumphantly  silenced. 

In  accordance  with  the  uniform  experience  of  all  ages,  the 
divine  appointments  once  set  aside,  the  Church,  left  without 
chart  or  compass,  drifts  further  and  still  further  from  the 
truth  toward  utter  apostasy.  The  modification  of  the  forms 
of  worshipping  the  true  Jehovah  by  Jeroboam  within  less  than 
a  century,  has  led,  under  Ahab,  to  the  worship  of  a  false  God, 
and  the  substitution  of  Baal  for  Jehovah.  Ahab,  seeking  to 
advance  himself  by  high  political  and  commercial  connections, 
has  allied  himself  with  the  powerful  house  of  Ethbaal,  at  once 
king  of  Sidon  and  high  priest  of  Astarte,  the  supplanter  and 
murderer  of  Phelles  his  predecessor.  And  now  Jezebel, 
cousin  german  of  the  murderer  Pygmalion,  and  of  the  Dido 
of  Virgil's  story,  with  all  the  stern,  fierce  fanaticism  of  her 
blood,  rules  over  both  Ahab  and  his  kingdom  of  Israel.  All 
the  malignant  energies  of  her  nature  have  concentrated  them- 
selves in  the  purpose  to  blot  out  the  very  memory  of  Jehovah 
from  her  new  dominions. 

The  splendid  ritual  of  Baal ,  enforced  by  the  example  and 
patronage  of  her  court — made  fascinating  to  the  mob  by 
every  trapping  of  magnificence — performed  by  a  priesthood 
whose  influence  is  unbounded — ^backed  by  all  the  despotic 
power  of  the  fashion  of  Tyre  and  Sidon — the  Paris  of  that 
civilization — ^has  at  last  triumphed  everywhere. 

But  suddenly  Ahab  is  startled,  in  his  capital,  by  an  appari- 
tion. It  is  a  singular,  rough,  unknown  man  from  far  across 
the  Jordan,  who,  denouncing  his  corruptions  of  religion,  ab- 
ruptly swears,  "  there  shall  be  neither  rain  nor  dew  for  these 
three  years,  but  according  to  my  word."  The  prophet  passes 
on  before  the  incredulous  kinglias  seen  the  prophecy  verified 
by  time  ;  and,  when  the  judgment  begins  to  bear  heavily,  it 


THE  GATnERING  ON  MOUNT  CARMEL.     1G3 

is  easy  enough  for  Jczcbcrs  court  demagogues  to  persuade 
the  poor  people  that  their  suffering  all  comes  from  the  malig- 
nant old  prophet ;  and  thereby  to  embitter  them  all  the  more 
against  Elijah  and  the  prophets  of  Jehovah,  as  troublers  of 
Israel.  Of  course  the  apostasy  to 'Baal  rapidly  progresses. 
The  rainless  three  years  and  a  half,  which  smote  the  hills  and 
valleys  as  with  fire  :  the  sky  all  as  brass  over  their  heads 
— the  atmosphere  a  suffocating  winding  sheet,  within  whose 
folds  life  must  gradually  die  out,  is  but  too  expressive  a  symbol 
of  the  spiritual  drought  and  famine  that  has  fallen  upon  the 
Church  of  God  in  Northern  Israel. 

But  suddenly  a  strange  rumour  spreads  among  the  suffer- 
ing people.  Nothing  less  than  that  the  old  prophet  has 
dared  to  return  from  his  exile :  nay  more,  has  dared  to  meet 
Ahab  face  to  face :  nay  more,  has  challenged  the  whole  priest- 
hood of  Baal  to  a  contest  before  all  the  people  on  Mount 
Carmel !  And  immediately  the  whole  country  is  full  of  ex- 
citement. All  sorts  of  people,  for  all  sorts  of  reasons,  resolve 
to  be  present ;  and,  in  obedience  to  the  summons  of  the  king, 
immense  multitudes  throng  the  sides  and  summit  of  Carmel. 
The  king  and  court,  and  the  Baal  priests,  with  all  imaginable 
pomp  and  splendor,  come  to  witness  the  final  triumph  of 
Jezebel's  religion.  And  now  JNIount  Carmel  seems  one  im- 
mense living  pile. 

It  is  precisely  the  fit  stage  for  such  a  drama.  From  its 
summit,  as  they  look  westward  and  northward,  they  see  the 
Mediterranean  dotted  with  the  merchant  ships  of  Tyre  and 
Si  don,  outward  or  inward  bound,  with  the  riches  of  the  world ; 
and  Tyre  and  Si  don  in  all  their  glory — the  grand  strongholds 
of  Baal.  As  they  look  eastward  and  southward,  yonder 
may  be  descried,  far  off,  the  Sea  of  Gallilee  gleaming  in  the 
morning  sun  ;  and  as  the  eye  sweeps  round  to  the  southward, 
the  plain  of  Jezreol,  and  Mount  Tabor  shooting  up  out  of  it ; 
and,  south vrard  still,  Ramoth-Gilead  and  Mount  Ebal  and 


164     GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

Gerizim  and  Shecliem,  and  Shilob,  and  a  hundred  mountain 
tops  and  villages,  around  which  hang  a  thousand  hallowed 
associations  and  memories  of  the  marvellous  power  and  loving 
kindness  of  Jehovah  to  their  fathers.  Thus  they  stand  as 
with  two  immense  maps  unrolled  at  their  feet ;  on  the  one 
side  the  map  of  the  kingdom  of  Baal,  on  the  other  side,  of 
the  kingdom  of  Jehovah. 

Thus   assembled — all   curiosity  and  excitement — waiting 
impatiently  the  opening  of  the  contest,  and  wondering  what 
method  the  strange,  bold  prophet  will  adopt ;  till  at  length 
the  old  man  attracts  all  eyes  as,  with  his  servant  aiding  him, 
and  exhausted  with  the  long  ascent,  he  is  seen  threading  his  j 
way  up  through  the  vast  crowd.     Curiosity  is  now  at  the  | 
highest  pitch.     What  will  he  say  or  do  ?     How  vfill  he  bring  | 
on  the  conflict  ?     Will  he  address  himself  to  the  king  and  ! 
court  in  the  same  bold  style  as  before  ?    So  some  anticipate  ; 
and  they  tremble  for  his  safety ;  for  the  popular  feeling  is  : 
high,  and  at  a  word  Ahab  can  turn  upon  him  ten  thousand  . 
human  wild  beasts.     Or  will  he  attack  the  priests  of  Baal, 
and  demand  of  them  the  proof  of  the  existence  of  their  God,  , 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  himself  make  a  mighty  argument  for  ! 
Jehovah  ?     So  others  anticipate,  and  they  are  resolving  to  j 
hear  candidly,  weigh  the  argument,  and  decide  according  to  j 
its  merits.     So  man  reasons ;  but  the  foolishness  of  God  is  | 
wiser  than  men.     Of  what  use  to  appeal  to  Ahab  with  argu-  ^ 
ment  and  eloquence  ?     Poor,  cowardly,  subservient  tool  of  j 
Jezebel,  who  dare  not  have  an  opinion  of  his  own,  save  as  she  | 
please  ?    Of  what  use  to  argue  with  these  Baal  priests,  bought  j 
up,  by  the  dainties  of  Jezebel's  kitchen,  to  work  all  manner  j 
of  infamous  imposture  ?     Of  what  use  to  reason  about  and  j 
demonstrate  the  doctrines  of  Jehovah   to  these  crowds  of  i 
apostate  Israel  ?     Reasoning  never  demonstrated  them  into  ] 
the  belief  of  the  Baal  doctrines,  and  how  shall  reasoning  j 
demonstrate  them  out  of  it  ?   Their  darkness  is  not  from  want  i 


WHOM    THIS    CARMEL    QUESTION    SREPEEENTS.    i05 

of  light,  want  of  proof,  want  of  argument,  but,  simply,  from 
want  of  conscience,  and  want  of  Itcart  for  Jehovah's  service  ; 
and  from  dalliance  with  the  absurd  idea  that  they  may 
somehow,  for  expediency's  and  popularity's  sake,  conform  to 
the  court  religion  without  renouncing  and  dishonouring 
Jehovah. 

Therefore,  casting  aside  all  these  vain  side  issues  and  logical 
trifles,  as  he  stands  forth  and  the  vast  concourse  is  hushed 
into  silence,  the  old  prophet  brings  them  squarely  to  the  issue, 
with  a  sin2;le  sentence  whose  tones  thrill  them  as  thou^rh 
Carmel  shook  under  their  feet,  "  How  long  halt  ye  between 
two  opinions?  If  Jehovah  he  God  folloiu  him,  hut  if  Baal, 
thenfollotv  him.^^ 

"  And  the  people  answered  him  not  a  word."  The  single 
sentence  is  a  shot  point  blank  to  the  heart.  Carried  to  its 
mark  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  shaft  quivers  in  ten  thousand 
consciences — Baal  is  already  defeated.  All  that  follows  of 
the  proposed  test  and  the  altar,  and  the  fire  from  heaven,  are 
but  the  successive  steps  of  the  victor  pursuing  his  vanquished 
and  demoralized  foe. 

My  brethren,  forget  not,  as  wo  pass  along,  that  tnis  scene 
on  Mount  Carmel  is  not  merely  historical  of  things  that  were. 
It  is  a  grand  representative  picture  of  things  that  are,  where- 
ever  the  gospel  is  preached.  This  congregation  on  Carmel 
is  a  representative  congregation ;  and  seldom  does  a  sabbath 
congregation  gather  in  the  land,  that,  if  analyzed,  will  not  be 
found  to  consist  of  the  same  four  classes  of  men  as  this  on 
Mount  Carmel.  First,  a  very  small  minority,  more  or  less 
bold  to  confess  it,  decided  for  Jehovah.  Second,  a  larger 
minority  thoroughly  decided  for  Baal.  Third,  a  much  larger 
minority  than  either  that  do  not  know  whether  Jehovah  is  God 
or  not.  Fourth,  the  majority  of  all  who  do  not  eare  whether 
Jehovah  be  God  or  not.  Allow  me  for  a  moment  to  imitate 
the  man  of  God,  and,  casting  aside  all  other  issues,  simply 


•IGG     GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

pr333  home  upon  you  the  absurdity  of  this  hesitancy  and 
compromising  in  the  great  question  of  rehgion.  For,  in  a 
very  brief  exposition  of  the  case,  I  can  show  you  that,  of  all 
conceivable  positions  and  theories  in  reference  to  the  gospel 
religion,  this  halting,  hesitating,  trimming  between  two,  is 
the  most  irrational  and  absurd.  Select,  if  you  please  your 
own  ground  on  which  to  stand  ;  I  care  not ;  for  on  any  ground 
this  halting  is  absurd. 

Do  you  stand  on  the  extreme  verge  of  unbelief — not  yet 
satisfied  of  the  reality  of  Jehovah's  existence  ? — or  of  the 
immortal  retributions  of  which  his  gospel  warns  ? — nay,  rather 
disposed  to  think  it  all  a  delusion  of  priestcraft  ?  Then  to 
you,  of  all  men  living,  comes  home  this  question,  "  How  long 
halt  ye  ?''  For,  of  all  men  living,  you  have  the  least  time  to 
waste  in  hesitancy  and  debate  and  speculations  of  religion ! 
If  there  be  no  life  of  retribution  after  this  —no  heaven — no 
hell — if  the  life  here  is  the  all  of  your  existence,  and  you  a 
mere  bubble,  or  fire-mist  flitting  for  an  hour  under  the  morn- 
ing sun,  and  then  vanishing — then  why  waste  its  brief  moments 
in  worrying  speculations,  in  imaginary  fears,  and  fretting 
under  the  restraints  of  an  imaginary  conscience  ?  Hurry, 
ye  miserable  wretches  of  a  day,  to  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow 
you  die  ;  you  have  no  time  to  lose  !  If  Baal  be  God — if  this 
world  is  the  all  of  you,  and  its  God  the  only  God — then  follow 
him  fully  while  you  may!  Haste,  to  fill  up  your  hours  with 
all  the  pleasures  you  are  capable  of  enjoying !  Give  loose 
rein  to  your  animal  appetites — wreak  your  little  brutish 
malignities  !  Why,  your  fellow  brutes  around  you  are  getting 
the  start  of  you  while  you  are  halting,  delaying  and  restrain- 
ing yourself ;  and  before  you  have  your  share  of  happiness 
you  shall  die  and  rot  and  be  no  more  ! 

Do  you  stand,  however,  far  within  this  outer  circle  of  blank 
unbehef,  and  hold  the  existence,  of  Jehovah  and  immortality 
and  retribution,  yet  hesitate  about  important  details  of  the 


WHOM    T[1I.>    CAKMEL    SCKXE    KKl'liESENT.,.      1G7 

doctrines  of  rcll^^ion  ?  But  if  you  boliovo  in  Jclioviili,  and 
in  immortal  retribution,  that  finishes  the  question  so  far  as 
concerns  you  personally.  For,  Avhatcver  debatable  grounds 
you  may  imagine  to  lie  within  the  vast  compass  of  that  creed 
of  two  articles,  tlierc  is  really  none,  so  far  as  concerns  the 
main  question.  If  Jehovah  exists  with  the  moral  attributes 
you  ascribe  to  him,  then  not  to  follow  him,  mvolves  all  of 
disaster  that  an  immortal  creature  can  fear.  And  in  a  few 
days,  death  may  come  and  settle  the  question  for  you  forever. 
While  you  are  amusing  yourself  with  dancing  the  theological 
slack  rope,  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  drawing  very  near.  Life 
is  half  spent  or  more,  and  you  have  not  yet  determined  the 
preliminary  points  of  salvation  !  At  that  rate  of  [jrogress, 
when  will  you  have  reached  the  main  questions  ?  And  if 
you  have  even  reached,  how  long  must  you  be  in  deciding  it? 
Yet  you  halt,  and  move  at  your  ease,  or  rather  move  not  at 
all,  though  while  you  linger  judgment  lingers  not,  and  while 
you  slumber  damnation  slumbers  not ! 

Do  you  stand  on  ground  far  within  this,  and  believe,  not 
only  that  Jehovah  is,  and  is  the  rewarder  of  those  who  follow, 
and  those  who  follow  him  not — but,  also,  that  Jehovah  hath 
spoken  to  men  his  will  ?  Yet  you  halt  to  settle  your  doubts 
about  certain  points  of  doctrine  in  that  teaching  ?  Then, 
how  long  halt  ye  ?  Either  these  points  are  essential  to  your 
salvation  or  they  are  not.  Take  either  horn  of  the  dilemma. 
If  they  are  fundamental,  and  must  be  solved  before  you  can 
follow  Jehovah,  then  how  long  halt  ye  ?  After  half  a  life 
time  or  more  already  spent  with  the  fundamental  preliminary 
questions  all  unsettled,  can  you  afford  to  wait  longer  and  be 
in  doubt  longer  ?  What  if  death  come  and  surprise  you  before 
you  have  reached  the  great  question  to  which  these  are  pre- 
paratory ?  Hasten,  thou  sluggard !  Arouse  thee  !  Say 
not,  a  little  more  sleep,  a  little  more  slumber  ;  when  the  sun 
of  life  is  already  in  the  meridian,  or  even  already  declining ; 


168    GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

or,  though  neither,  may  suddenly  go  down  before  the  noon ! 
And  your  day's  work  is  not  yet  fairly  begun !  Nay,  the 
day's  work  of  yesterday,  and  many  days  past,  lying  un- 
done ! 

Or  will  you  take  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma,  and  say 
these  points  about  which  you  halt  are  not  fundamental? 
Then,  still  greater  the  folly  of  halting  upon  these  merely 
speculative  points,  while,  meantime,  the  great  question  of 
life  is  yet  untouched  ! 

Thus  it  may  be  shown  of  every  vSriety  of  religious  senti- 
ment, short  of  actual  faith  and  following  Jehovah,  that  this 
halting  on  this  subject  is  the  most  irrational  of  all  positions. 
If  there  be  a  Jehovah,  follow  him!  It  is  the  only  consistent 
course.  If  there  be  a  heaven,  then  the  fact  is  infinite  in 
importance  and  not  to  be  debated  as  against  any  other  fact. 
Resolve  to  win  its  glories  !  If  there  be  a  hell,  then,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  there  can  be  no  other  wise  course  than  to 
resolve  at  once  to  shun  its  darkness  and  chains ;  its  "  weep- 
ing and  waihng  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  The  undecided, 
halting  soul  finds  no  countenance  in  heaven,  earth,  or  hell ! 
From  all  comes  the  demand,  decide !  If  Jehovah  be  God, 
follow  him  !  If  Baal,  follow  him.  If  reason  be  God,  follow 
reason  !  and  be  guided  by  its  dictates  !  If  Bacchus,  with 
his  riot  and  revelry, be  God,  then  follow  Bacchus.  If  Venus, 
with  her  sensual  charms,  then  follow  her.  If  Mammon, 
with  his  clinking  chest,  then  follow  Mammon  !  Let  the 
soul  of  man  follow,  and  fully  enter  into  communion  with  its 
God ! 

I  may  be  addressing  some  more  earnest  spirit  who  feels 
that  the  cause  of  his  hesitancy  has  not  yet  been  touched. 
For  he  not  only  believes  that  Jehovah  exists  and  hath  spoken, 
but  receives  as  truth  all  that  he  has  spoken  ;  and  desires  in 
his  heart  to  follow  him.  Yet  he  is  restrained  by  conscious- 
ness of  unworthiness  to  be  called  one  of  Jehovah's  people ; 


WHOM  TUE  PROriTET  STANDING  ALONE  KErRESENTS.  169 

doubts  whether  he  exercises  the  faith  that  is  unto  salvation  ; 
fears  his  inabiUty  to  walk  worthy  of  so  high  a  vocation,  and 
for  these,  or  similar  reasons,  still  halts,  when  the  call  is, 
•'  Come,  confess,  and  follow  Jehovah."  Yet  to  all  such,  the 
question  of  Mount  Carmcl  comes  home  in  all  its  force — "  How 
long  halt  ye  ?"  This  question  is  not  one  of  ethical  worthi- 
ness or  fitness,  it  is  a  question  of  salvation^  from  a  state  of 
ruin  supposed  to  be  consciously  felt.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
how  much  you  can  do,  or  have  done  to  entitle  you  to  accept 
Jehovah's  offer  to  redeem  you !  but  simply,  arc  you  willing 
to  let  Jehovah  do  it  for  you?  It  is  not  even  a  question  of 
how  much  faith,  or  how  strong  faith,  but  simply  whether  you 
have  a  willing  heart,  and  can  say,  '^  Lord,  I  believe,  help 
thou  mine  unbelief."  Therefore,  there  is  no  place  for  hesi- 
tancy or  debate  on  a  question  whether  your  sinking  soul  shall 
seize  hold  of  the  arm  reached  forth,  mighty  to  save, — whether 
your  famishing  soul  will  take  the  water  of  life  freely.  Halt 
not!  Hesitate  not!  Venture  on  him,  and,  looking  to  him 
for  light,  for  strength,  for  grace,  for  every  thing,  just  "follow 
him." 

But  we  recur  again  to  these  proceedings  on  Mount  Carmel. 
"  I  only  remain  a  prophet  of  Jehovah,"  continues  the  old 
man,  "  but  Baal's  prophets  are  four  hundred  and  fifty  men." 
It  is  the  language  of  courage,  and  yet  the  language  somewhat 
of  modesty  and  sadness,  under  the  consciousness  that  a  man 
must  seem  to  be  not  only  in  the  wrong,  but  also  self-opinion- 
ated and  wise  in  his  own  conceit,  who  stands  tlius  in  antago- 
nism to  the  current  sentiment  of  his  age.  There  is  no  wider 
mistake,  in  judging  of  men,  than  the  popular  judgment  that 
these  Ehjahs,  who  brave  the  popular  opinion,  and  defy  the 
ridicule,  the  threats,  the  malignant  speeches  of  a  world  ir. 
arms,  must  be  men  of  great  self-conceit.  On  the  contrary, 
they  are  generally  modest  men,  self-distrustful  by  nature. 
And,  though  as  witnesses  for  the  truth  of  Jehovah,  they  press 


170    GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

forward,  utterly  heedless  of  the  thick  flying  shafts  of  malice 
and  defamation,  and  seem  to  be  iron-clad  men;  yet  their 
boldness  grows  out  of  their  clear  convictions  of  truth  and  their 
implicit  reliance  on  the  power  of  Jehovah  to  protect  his  truth. 
In  all  else  these  iron-clad  Elijahs  are  men  of  like  passions 
with  other  men ;  and  in  hours  of  darkness  and  despondency 
are  assailed  many  a  time  by  the  doubt — "  May  not  I  be 
wrong,  seeing  that  I  only  think  thus  and  all  the  world  think 
difierently." 

In  this  respect  Elijah  stands  as  representative  of  the  true 
children  of  God  in  the  midst  of  every  crooked  and  perverse 
generation.     And  every  believing  soul  has  this  experience — 
For  think  not  that  it  belittles  and  degrades  this  majestic 
scene  to  say  that,  in  principle,  it  represents  the  struggle  in 
the  soul  of  this  humble  man  or  woman,  this  Christian  boy  or 
girl,  when  the  question  is  made  of  duty  to  obey  what  Jehovah 
says,  and  what  this  Baal-god  public  opinion  says.      Then 
comes  in  this  overpowering  sense  of  being  in  a  minority  of 
one,  or  two,  or  three,  against  the  multitudes  that  do  evil. 
Can  I  be  right  ?     Is  it  modest  ?     Is  it  humble  as  becomes  a 
Christian  ?  for  me  to  set  up  my  convictions,  against  the  judg- 
ment of  so  many,  even  of  reputable  Christian  men  and  women 
who  conform  here  to  the  court  fashions  of  religion  ?     This 
boy,  with  impulses  strongly  set  to  follow  Jehovah  fully,  as  he 
comes  first  in  contact  with  the  Baal  maxims  of  the  streets,  of 
the  shop,  of  the  counting-room;  this  young  Christian  girl,  with 
heart  all  aglow  with  her  first  love  of  Jehovah,  when  called 
upon  to  come  down  from  the  strict  law  of  Jehovah — "  Be  not 
conformed  to  the  w^orld,  but  be   ye   transfovmed"    to   the 
indulgences  of  worldly  pleasures  and  fashions  ;  have  the  same 
struggle   to   make.     Nor  smile,  my  brethren,  at  the  little 
things  to  Avhich  I  bring  down  the  apphcation  of  Elijah's  case. 
Remember,  Jesus  made  this  boy's  and  girl's  case  of  import- 
ance enough  to  denounce  a  special  woe  against   "  whosoever 


THE    FIRE    TEST    WHY   CHOSEN?  171 

shall,  offend  one  of  these  little  ones."  Neither  is  it  any  fanci- 
ful 01'  defamatory  analogy,  which  makes  these  Baal  conformists 
in  Carmel  representative  of  the  popular  theology  and  ethics 
-which  passes  under  the  name  of  Christianity  with  large  classes 
of  our  nominally  Christian  communities.  It  is  simply  because 
our  modes  of  religious  thought  now,  differ  from  theirs  on 
Carmel,  who  gave  visible  form  and  local  habitation  to  their 
gods  or  dominant  ideas,  that  we  do  not  see  Baal  gods  in  just 
as  numerous  array  in  New  York  and  London  and  in  a  thous- 
and other  cities,  as  in  Tyre  and  Sidon  of  old.  And  the 
conflict  is,  in  principle,  just  the  same  as  Elijah's,  when  in  a 
thousand  forms  of  business  or  pleasure  the  earnest  Christian 
conscience  finds  "I,  even  I  only,"  regard  this  usage  of  trade 
contrary  to  the  ethics  of  Jehovah,  but  here  are  four  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the  most  reputable  men  of  trade  who  conform  to 
it !  "I,  even  I  only,"  regard  this  custom  of  society,  or  this 
maxim,  or  this  indulgence  as  contrary  to  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  gospel ;  but  here  are  Christian  families  of  good  report 
who  conform  ;  yea,  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  prophets,  that 
seem  to  stand  high  as  rehgious  teachers,  who  expressly  justify 
it,  or  by  their  silence  connive  at  it !  Is  it  modest  in  me  to 
object  ?  Nay,  may  I  not  seem  self-righteous  ?  Now,  the 
only  safeguard  against  temptation,  here,  is  clear  conviction 
of  the  truth  and  the  ever  present  consciousness  that,  if  right, 
then  "  they  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with 
them." 

Let  each  party  "  lay  a  sacrifice  on  ivood^  and  2^ut  no  fire 
under ^^^  continues  the  prophet  of  Jehovah.  It  is  no  random 
choice  of  a  test ;  but  precisely,  the  test  to  recall  to  these 
apostate  Israelites  the  glorious  truths  of  the  past.  "  The 
God  that  answereth  by  fire,  let  him  be  God."  It  was  the 
ancient  and  venerable  sign  of  Jehovah's  presence  to  accept 
the  true  worship  of  his  saints.  So  had  he  accepted  Abel's 
sacrifice,  so  had  he  appeared  to  Abraham  in  his  offering.    So- 


172     GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

'had  he  shot  forth  the  fire,  from  his  throne  on  the  xVrk  of  the 
^covenant,  to  consume  the  first  sacrifice  at  the  dedication  of 
the  tabernacle  ;  and  again  at  the  dedication  of  the  temple. 
While,  therefore,  the  prophet  seeks  a  sign,  he  will  have  a 
sign  which  shall  hold  forth  the  truth  of  God  to  the  minds  of 
the  people  as  the  instrument  of  converting  them  from  their 
.apostasy. 

"  It  is  well  spoken, "  is  the  first  utterance  of  the  people. 
'The  prophet's  astonishing  question,  "  How  long  halt  ye  ?" 
has  wrought  effectually ;  and  the  proposition  for  an  answer 
by-  fire,  awakens  truths  long  dormant  in  their  memories. 
BaaFs  priests  have  lost  their  control  over  the  popular  impulses, 
and,  however  unwilling,  they  can  but  accept  the  chal- 
lenge, or  expose  themselves  to  the  popular  contempt.  All 
their  skill  in  priestly  jugglery,  and  theological  pyrotechnics, 
shall  avail  them  little  now,  under  the  gaze  of  ten  thousand 
eyes.  Yet,  in  their  desperation  they  must  make  a  show  of 
•contest,  hoping  perhaps,  that  Elijah  may  at  least  make  a  fail- 
ure, and  leave  the  question  where  it  stood  before.  And  now 
while  they  proceed  with  their  frantic  rites,  with  many  a  mys- 
terious ceremonial,  and  robes  flaunting  as  they  shout — "  0 
Baal !  Baal  hear  us,"  the  old  prophet's  soul  is  moved  with 
mingled  shame  and  indignation,  that  the  children  of  the  cove- 
nant— divinely  taught  through  Moses  and  Samuel  and  David 
— should  have  descended  so  low,  that  base  jugglers  could 
have  the  assurance  gravely  to  perpetrate  such  foolery  before 
them  !  Till,  no  longer  able  to  restrain  his  contempt,  he  be- 
gins, with  terrible  sarcasm  and  bitter  irony,  to  affect  sympa- 
thy with  them  and  to  advise  them.  ''  Louder!  Louder!"  he 
-cries,  "  your  God  has  too  much  to  occupy  him,  since  addino* 
Israel  to  his  dominions !  He  is  probably  absorbed  in  a  council 
about  the  vast  affairs  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  !  Possibly  he  is  off 
on  a  hunting  expedition — or  gone  on  a  cruise  with  the  fleet, 
or  a  tour  of  inspection  !     May  be,  he  has  been  taking  a  frohc  ; 


RIDICULE    A    JUST    .METHOD    WITH    IMPOSTURE.    173 

and  is  drunk,  and  asleep — Louder !  therefore  till  you  wake 
him  and  compel  his  attention  !" 

This  is  but  one  of  several  instances,  as  you  may  see  in  the 
Psalms  and  Isaiah,  and  the  other  prophets,  wherein  the 
inspired  men  have  used  irony  and  ridicule  a'^ainst  false  religi- 
onists. No  doubt  this  speech  of  Elijah  to  the  Baal  prophets 
would  grate  harshly  on  the  sensitive  ear  of  many  of  our  mod- 
ern will- worshipers,  and  even  many  of  our  liberalists  in  rcligioa 
who  have  no  scruples  in  making  Moses  and  David  and  Paul, 
and  their  adherents,  the  subject  of  their  sarcasms,  would 
affect  to  be  shocked  that  a  man  of  God  should  be  found  derid- 
ing these  earnest  Baal  priests,  who  are  so  sincerely  endeavour- 
ing to  get  the  ear  of  their  God  ! 

Ridicule  is  not  the  test  of  truth,  as  claimed  by  the  Deists 
of  the  last  century  :  for  a  Sir  Matthew  Hale  or  a  George 
Washington  could  be  made  ridiculous  enough  by  means  of  a 
fool's-cap  and  harlequin's  coat  put  upon  them,  as  robes  of  office. 
But,  while  not  the  test  of  truth,  ridicule  is,  in  many  cases, 
the  only  logical  method  which  can  be  employed  to  check  the 
progress  and  stay  the  influence  of  religious  impostures.  It  is 
one  of  the  adroitest  of  the  wiles  of  Satan  to  array,  in  very* 
sanctimonious  dress,  pious  lies,  and  impostures  so  preposter- 
ous as  to  set  all  reason  at  defiance  ;  and  when  they  are 
assailed  with  derision — as  such  follies  can  only  be  assailed — 
to  make  a  terrible  outcry  at  the  impiety  of  our  treating 
sacred  things,  and  holy  convictions  with  levity.  And  especi- 
ally are  the  phases  of  religious  imposture  which  favour  stage 
effect,  and  gorgeous  show,  and  theatrical  cant  in  religious 
worship,  terribly  afraid  of  such  argument  as  Elijah's.  Now 
it  is  a  folly,  scarce  less  than  equal  to  that  of  the  Baal  priests , 
to  undertake  to  reason  out  of  men's  heads  religious  delusions 
which  reason  never  put  into  them.  When  men  put  their 
religious  theories  out  of  the  pale  alike  of  reason  and  scripture  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  ignore,  in  the  high  concern  of  religion,  all 


174    GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN"  CONFLICT  WITH  APOSTASY. 

that  intelligence  which  distinguishes  the  working  of  the 
human  mind  from  the  mere  instincts  and  impulses  of  the  lower 
creatures ;  are  we  to  allow  them  to  deceive  the  ignorant  and 
the  impulsive  without  restraint,  merely  because  they  assume 
the  airs  of  sanctity  and  devotion  ?  Nature  has  provided  no 
other  means  of  managing  a  donkey  than  the  lash.  When 
Eaal  priests  have  the  assurance  to  practice  their  juggleries? 
no  matter  how  earnestly  they  leap  upon  the  altar,  and  cut 
themselves,  and  how  earnestly  they  urge  their  vain  repeti- 
tions, "  0  Baal,  Baal !  hear  us," — there  is  no  other  method 
than  Elijah's  left  us.  When  modern  Baal  priests  would  palm 
upon  the  ignorant  and  foolish  their  legends  of  winking 
Madonnas  ;  of  houses  of  our  Lady  of  Loretto,  that  fly  through 
the  air  ;  or  of  the  liquefaction  of  St.  Januarius'  blood  ;  when 
Mormon  prophets  come  with  their  legends  of  an  appendix  to 
inspiration  dug  out  of  a  hill ;  when  self-styled  spiritualists, 
with  messages  from  the  other  world,  uttered  through  such 
spiritual  channel  as  bed-post,  table-leg  or  bell-wire,  by  spirits 
whose  natures,  if  their  prophets  are  to  be  believed,  have 
grown  only  the  more  senseless,  earthly,  sensual  and  devilish 
from  ceasing  to  tabernacle  in  the  flesh  ; — and  attempt  to 
invest  these  fooleries  with  an  air  of  extra  sanctity  and  sentiment 
— what  is  left  for  the  prophets  of  Jehovah  but  to  lay  on  the 
lash  of  ridicule  till  the  imposture  is  scouted  by  the  people 
whom  it  attempted  to  deceive  ?  The  current  clamour  of 
impostors, — "  We  are  ridiculed  not  answered  " — is  simply 
another  trick  of  imposture.  For,  it  depends  entirely  on  the 
nature  of  the  case  whether  ridicule  is  not  the  only  sensible 
answer.  Such  is  the  propensity  of  fallen  humanity  to 
religious  delusion,  that  he  who  should  found  a  religion  on 
the  denial  that  three  times  four  is  twelve,  would,  with  plausi- 
bility and  assurance  enough,  gain  adherents.  But  who  could 
answer  the  argument  for  such  a,  creed  ?  Not  all  the  Arith- 
meticians in  America.    If  men  will  imore  their  own  under- 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH    OX    CARMEL.  175 

standings,  and  put  their  religious  imposture  beyond  the  reach 
of  argument  and  proof,  then  the  prophet  of  the  trutli  must 
needs  crack  his  whip  to  keep  the  imposture  in  its  place  ;  or  lay 
on  the  lash  if  it  endangers  the  public  safety. 

While  thus  disgusted  and  wearied,  tlie  hour  of  evening  sac- 
rifice draws  on.  And,  for  the  same  reason  that  he  selected 
the  answer  by  fire  as  the  test  sign,  the  man  of  God  now  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  principle  of  so  working  wonders,  as  most 
effectually  to  impress  the  revealed  truth  of  God.  "  Come 
away  from  the  impostors  and  their  disgusting  jugglery,"  is 
his  command  to  the  now  wearied  and  disgusted  people.  And 
taking  the  twelve  stones  of  an  old  altar,  which  must  recall  to 
their  memory  the  former  days  of  the  unity  of  the  twelve 
tribes,  when  Jehovah  gate  them  their  ordinances,  he  prepares 
the  sacrifice  in  a  manner  to  exclude  all  possibility  of  suspicion 
that  any  earthly  fire  was  hidden  there.  Then  at  the  moment 
for  the  evening  sacrifice, — as  another  in  the  series  of  spiritual 
mnemonics,  w^hereby  the  old  truths  of  the  gospel  of  their 
fathers  shall  be  recalled  to  them — the  man  of  God  bows  and 
prays.  No  pomp — no  theatrical  pageant — ^_yet  what  holy  awe 
thrills  the  heart  of  the  mighty  congregation,  as  Avord  after 
word  of  the  simple  prayer  conveys  its  volume  of  suggestive 
thought  I — "  Jehovah,  God  of  Abraham  ;  Isaac  and  Israel : 
— Let  it  be  known  this  day,  that  thou  art  God  in  Israel — 
and  that  I  am  thy  servant !"  lie  ceases.  The  gleam,  as  of 
a  lightning  flash  from  heaven,  darts  upon  the  altar  pile  ;  \t 
dazzles  for  a  moment  the  myriad  eyes  that  are  fixed  upon  the 
altar  !  There  is  a  hissing  and  crackling  for  a  moment ; — 
the  smoke  as  of  a  powder  flash — and  lo,  sacrifice,  wood,  altar, 
water  vanish  as  an  exhalation  ! 

Awe  struck,  the  astonished  multitudes  prostrate  themselves 
and  with  one  voice,  shout,  as  though  Carmel  itself  had  found 
a  voice  of  thunder  in  its  depths,  and  a  tongue  to  articulate 
"  Jehovah  is  God  !     Jehovah  is  God  !'•     Baal's  priests  are 


176    GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  AVITII  APOSTASY. 

overwhelmed  with  confusion.  Elijah,  as  directlj  commissioned 
to  execute  the  law  which  bothldng  and  people  had  contemned, 
gives  the  order  for  their  execution. 

Remember,  ye  that  now,  fascinated  by  the  seductions  of 
the  Baal  god  of  this  world,  are  striving  to  ease  conscience, 
by  professing  reverence  for  Jehovah  yet  practically  serving 
Baal ;  this  part  of  the  Carmel  scene  is  also  representative  ! 
Though  the  vast  majority  is  with  you  now,  yet  the  day  of 
sorrow  is  fast  approaching  when  you  shall  cry  "  0  Baal !  Baal  I 
hear  us,"  but  there  shall  be  no  voice  to  answer,  or  power  to 
save,  from  the  doom  of  everlasting  shame  and  contempt. 

I  must  pass  over  the  wonderful  scene,  of  the  prayer  of 
faith,  wrestling  for  the  blessing  seven  times  till  the  usual  sign 
in  nature  appeared,  in  "  the  cloud  big  as  a  man's  hand,'' 
For  it  would  require  a  whole  discourse  to  develop  properly 
that  wonderful  illustration  of  the  nature  and  i  'Ower  of  prayer. 
I  can  only  refer  you  to  the  key  to  the  exposition  of  this 
whole  matter  of  Elijah's  sealing  up  the  heavens,  calling  down 
the  fire,  and  then  the  rain,  given  by  the  Apostle  James ;  for 
the  remarkable  point  made  by  the  Apostle  is  that,  in  all 
these  proceedings,  it  was  not  first  by  Divine  revelation  direct 
that  Elijah  cither  uttered  the  judgment  of  the  drought  in 
Samaria,  or  proposed  the  fire  test  in  Carmel,  or  knew  that 
the  rain  was  at  hand.  He  was,  in  all  this,  "  a  man  of  like 
passions  with"  the  believers  who  pray  for  any  special  mercy. 
His  spirit  was  moved  to  think  he  heard  the  sound  of  mucli 
rain,  just  as,  sometimes,  the  hearts  of  God's  children  arc 
moved  to  feel  that  the  Lord  will  come,  after  three  days,  and 
revive  them.  The  whole  case  is  a  literal  illustration  of  what 
the  Apostle  Paul  teaches  us  concerning  prayer :  namely, 
that  we  know  not  what  to  pray  for,  but  the  Spirit  moving 
upon  the  soul,  first  inspires  the  desire  and  the  petition : 
hence  we  receive  the  answer  because  God's  Spirit  moved  us 
to  ask.     Men  like  Elijah  get  so  near,  and  so  familiar  with 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH    ON    CARMEL.  177 

Jehovah,  that,  as  affectionate  children,  they  may  sometimes 
presume,  as  it  were,  to  say  beforehand  what  the  Father  will 
do  for  his  glory.  And  thus  it  appears  that  througli  all  of 
these  transactions  ELjah's  heart,  moved  by  the  Spi  't,  felt  so 
sure  of  being  sustained  that  he  ventured  to  pronounce  the 
judgment,  propose  the  fire  test  and  promise  the  speedy  com- 
ing of  the  rain.  And  then  he  agonized  in  prayer  that  Jehovah 
would  not  suffer  his  own  name  or  his  prophet,  to  be  dishon- 
oured.. Hence  this  teaching  of  the  Apostle  invests  this  story 
of  Elijah  with  a  new  interest ;  by  revealing  to  us  the  fact 
that  the  proj^het  was  not  simply  working  miracles,  but, 
meanwhile,  moving  in  a  common  sphere  with  all  saints  who 
pray. 

The  victory  won,  and  all  crowned  with  the  blessing  of  the 
refi^shing  torrents,  Elijah  partakes  in  the  general  joy.  As 
the  glad  thousands  rush  down  Carmel  shouting,  Rain  !  Rain ! 
and  the  trees  of  the  forest,  the  birds — all  nature  sing.  Rain ! 
the  prophet  renews  his  youth.  He  desires  to  evince  to  the 
king,  that  the  slaughter  of  his  Baal  prophets  implies  no 
liostile  feeling  to  him :  and  if  possible  to  win  him  over  and 
strengthen  him  in  the  purpose  of  obedience,  henceforth,  to 
Jehovah,  and  the  reform  of  religion.  So,  girding  himself, 
when  Ahab  mounts  his  chariot  to  dash  down  to  shelter  him- 
self from  the  rain  in  his  palace  at  Jezreel,  the  prophet  conde- 
scends, after  the  oriental  fashon,  to  run  before  the  chariot  as 
avant  courier.  And,  equally  to  the  king's  gratification  and 
astonishment,  the  old  prophet  outstrips  his  fleet  horses,  in  the 
race  for  the  palace.  There  the  man  of  God  leaves  him  and 
retires  to  muse  on  the  wonderful  deeds  and  the  lovini;;  kind- 
ness  of  Jehovah  ;  full  of  hope  doubtless,  that  the  great  work 
of  restoration  and  revival,  commencing  with  the  court  and  the 
multitudes  from  Carmel,  would  spread,  until  Israel  shall  b« 
redeemed  from  apostasy. 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 

Part  2nd. 

THE  GOSPEL  OP  THE  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDING  j 

FAITH.  i 

I 

"  And  Aliah  told  Jezebel  all  that  Elijah  had  done^''  S^c. 
This  brief  summary,  doubtless,  covers  scenes  of  tragic  gran-  \ 

deur  in  the  palace  of  Jezreel.  We  can  readily  imagine  how, 
Elijah  having  left  him,  the  king,  rushes  into  the  presence  of 
his  queen,  who  has,  all  day,  eagerly  awaited  the  issue  of  the 
singular  gathering  on  Mount  Carmel.  Full  of  the  excite- 
ment, he  rapidly  utters  his  report.  "  The  old  Tishbite  has 
triumphed  !  He  called  down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  his 
sacrifice  !     I  saw  it  with  my  own  eyes,  and  there  was  no  room  \ 

for  deception.      He  has  also  called  down  this  torrent  of  rain  j 

from  heaven.    The  people,  overwhelmed  with  astonishment  and  \ 

awe,  fell  on  their  faces  and  cried  '  Jehovah  is  God  !'    Indeed  I 

the  prophet  left  them  no  room  for  doubt.  The  multitude 
immediately  became  uncontrollable,  save  by  Elijah.  At  his 
command,  they  seized  upon  the  whole  body  of  your  prophets, 
and  Kishon  runs  red  with  their  blood.  It  Avill  be,  i)erhaps, 
safest  to  yield  to  the  popular  pressure.  Elijah  seems  kindly 
enough  disposed  toward  me.  Strangely  enough  the  old  man 
has  run,  as  the  advance  herald  of  my  chariot,  all  the  way 
from  Carmel,  keeping  before  my  fleet  horses  at  their  best  j 

speed!"  I 

But,  as  he  thus  rapidly  runs  over  the  story,  suddenly,  as  i 

if  thunderstruck,   his  tongue  palsies,   his  thoughts  become  ' 

confused,  his  mind  wavers.     At  the  mention  of  the  slaughter  .; 

of  the  priests,  a  death  like  pallor  overspreads  the  queen's 


180  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDENCY. 

countenance  for  a  moment — then  a  cloud  of  blackness  gathers, 
and  her  eyes  flash  as  the  vivid  lightning.  At  the  suggestion 
of  submission  to  the  popular  judgment,  such  a  glance  of  inef- 
fable contempt  darts  upon  Ahab,  that  it  transforms  his  very 
thoughts ;  and  in  a  moment  all  appears  to  him  in  a  new  and 
opposite  light.  This  is  the  Ahab,  remember,  whom  the 
sacred  history,  in  a  single  line,  portrays,  so  expressively,  as, 
^'  Ahab  whom  Jezebel  his  wife  stirred  up."  And  now  the 
tempest  waxes  fierce,  and  the  curses  fall  thick  upon  Elijah  and 
his  God.  The  very  fires  of  hell  have  been  kindled  in  her 
fanatical  heart ;  and  a  famishing  thirst  for  blood,  in  revenge 
for  the  blood  of  the  priests  of  Baal.  Rather  would  she  the 
whole  kingdom  should  have  perished  by  the  famine  than  have 
witnessed  such  a  triumph  for  Jehovah.  Nay  the  very 
thought  of  Elijah  enjoying  to-night,  quietly,  his  proud  triumph 
is  to  her  insupportable  ;  and  that  he  shall  quietly  sleep  upon 
it  is  perfectly  maddening.  In  the  eager  impatience  of  her 
womanly  desire  for  vengeance,  she  determines  to  spoil  his 
feast,  and  send  him  a  thorn  for  his  pillow.  And  with 
genuine,  womanly  uncalculating  passion,  she  hurries  off  a 
minister  with  the  terrible  message  and  oath,  "  So  let  the 
gods  do  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  I  make  not  thy  life  as  the 
life  of  one  of  them  by  to-morrow  about  this  time."  Of  course, 
reasoning  after  the  manner  of  men,  this  notice  was  the 
surest  way  to  defeat  her  purpose  !  Yet  how  natural  though 
paradoxical  the  picture ! 

As  simply  a  specimen  of  human  nature  painting,  there  is 
nothing  equal  to  the  Jezebel  of  Scripture  in  all  the  circle  of 
literature.  The  strokes  of  the  pencil  are  indeed  very  few. 
It  is  an  outline,  with  no  filling  up  of  the  details,  as  in  the 
tragic  poets.  Yet  the  student  who  will  take  the  pains  to 
gather  from  the  record  and  study  this  outline,  will  find  the 
Jezebel  of  Scripture  stand  out  before  him  with  more  distinct- 
ness than  the  Medea  of  Euripides  or  the  Lady  Macbeth  of 


Elijah's  failure  axd  despondency.      181 

Shakespeare.  The  mere  ouUine  sets  her  forth  with  a  power, 
and  vividness,  and  a  gigantic  grandeur  of  wickedness,  yet, 
witha^,  a  naturahiess  that  no  human  genius  has  ever  equalled. 
Meantime  Elijah,  in  a  glow  of  entliusiasm,  is  awaiting  the 
result  of  the  news  at  the  palace.  Who  shall  say  what  hopes 
begin  to  animate  him,  that  the  set  time  for  the  restoration  of 
apostate  Israel  is  now  fully  come  ?  Ahab  has  evidently  been 
deeply  impressed  and  convinced  if  not  converted.  And  why 
may  not  tJie  indisputable  proofs  of  the  reality  of  Jehovah's 
power  and  presence  which  Ahab  has  carried  to  the  palace 
affect  the  mind  of  Jezebel  also,  and  break  the  spell  of  the 
Baal  delusion  ?  Nay,  ■'.vhy  may  not  the  Lord  use  Jezebel 
herself  as  his  instrument  for  turning  the  whole  of  her  royal 
family,  and  Tyre  and  Sidon,  to  the  true  God  ?  And,  these 
turned,  why  may  not  all  the  surrounding  nations  be  brought 
by  so  extraordinarj^  a  conversion  to  acknowledge  Jehovah  ? 

In  the  midst  of  some  such  dreams  the  messenger  enters, 
announcing  the  terrible  oath  and  the  threat  I  And  if  it  is  a 
strange  contradiction  to  send  the  message  and  thereby  give 
him  opportunity  to  escape,  how  much  more  strange  the  con- 
tradiction that  the  Elijah  who  has  boldly  faced  alone  the  king 
and  court,  and  tiie  fickle,  obsequious  mob  of  Israel  on  Carmel, 
should  now  at  the  cursing  of  an  angry  woman,  arise  and  run 
for  his  life  ?  0  ye  who  know  something  by  experience,  of 
the  eifect  of  high  hopes  suddenly  blasted,  and  enthusiastic 
calculations  suddenly  upset  by  the  stern  logic  of  the  realities 
of  Hfe  as  it  is — ye  may  understand  something  of  this  strange 
inconsistency.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiar  laws  of  the  spiritual 
l^fe,  that  when  Jehovah  has  created  in  the  soul  some  convic- 
tions of  his  purpose  to  bless,  human  nature  at  once  begins  to 
cover  them  all  over  with  its  self-created  accretions,  until  tbe 
original  divine  creation  can  no  longer  be  recognized.  Then, 
when,  in  his  aU-wiso  providence,  and  i)i  mercy  to  us,  he 
comes  to  knock  off  these  accrotioiii  from  his  own  beautiful 


Ib2  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDENCY. 

creation  in  the  soul,  we  at  once  conclude  that  Jehovah  is 
against  us  and  hath  changed  from  his  purposes    of  mercy. 
Jehovah  has  not  told  Elijah  that  Ahab  and  Israel,  Jezebel 
and  Tjre  and  Sidon  are  to  bo  converted  to  ths  truth ;  but 
only  that  he  will,  for  the  present,  withdraw  his  judgments  and 
send  rain  upon  the  famishing  people.     Reasoning  from  our 
own  tendencies  to  his,  we  infer  that   Elijah  may  probably 
have  become   intoxicated  with   his  success  in  the  work  of 
reform,  and  in  laying  out  plans  by  which  Jehovah  will  proceed 
with  his  work.     And  therefore,  in  the  hour  of  disappointment 
and  temptation,  his  faith  gives  way.     As  if  he  now  feared 
that  the  malice  of  Jezebel  could  circumvent  the  very  purposes 
of  Jehovah  himself,  behold  this  triumphant  champion  of  the 
faith  on  Carmel,  now  fleeing  for  his  life  !     Yea,  after  crossing 
the  border  into  the  southern  kingdom — the  dominions  of  pious 
Jehoshaphat,  where  any  prophet  of  God  would  be  received 
with  honour — he  dares  not  stop  even  there.     Some  spy  of 
Jezebel  may  follow  him,  and  by  some  trick  cause  Jehoshaphat 
to  extradite  him ;  and  this  is  the  more  likely  from  the  friend- 
ship that  is   growing  up  between  Ahab    and   Jehoshaphat. 
Onward,  therefore,  he  rushes  through  the  kingdom  of  Judah 
to  its  extreme  southern  border  on  the  desert.      Nay  even 
there  he  fears  he  may  not  be  secure  ;  and  leaving  his  servant, 
proceeds  still  southward  toward  Sinai  into  the  great  desert 
itself.     For  one  Avhole  day  he  pushes  onward  over  the  burn- 
ing sands  and  under  the  burning  sun,  till  nature  is  utterly 
exhausted ;  and,  says  the  record,  "  he  came  and  sat  down 
under  a  juniper  tree,  and  he  requested  for  himself  that  he 
might  die  ;  and  said  0,  Lord  God,  it  is  enough ;  take  away 
my  life,  for  I  am  no  better  than  my  fathers." 

Vfhat  is  the  matter  with  Elijah  ?  What  is  the  solution  of 
this  paradox,  that  a  man  is  running  for  his  hfe  and  yet  pray- 
ing to  die  ?  It  is,  indeed,  inconsistent  enough,  yet  never  was 
painthig  tiuer  to  the  life  of  a  saint  of  God  in  darkness  and 


ELIJAHS    FAILURE    AXD    DESPONDEXCY.         183 

desertion.  The  clue  to  the  whole  mystery  is  tliat  Jehovah 
has  not  said  to  EHjah  ''  Arise  and  flee" — as  before  he  had 
said,  '•  Go  show  thyself  to  Ahab"-  -or  "  Arise,  get  thee  to 
Zarephath."  The  record  simply  states  that,  hearing  Jezebel's 
fierce  oath,  Elijah  "  arose  and  went  for  his  life."  Once  the 
communication  between  Elijah  and  Jehovah  is  broken  he  is 
just  as  inconsistent  and  weak  as  any  of  us.  Well  did  the 
Apostle  James  say  "  Elijah  was  a  man  of  like  passions  with 
us.''  Hero  we  see  that  he  was.  lie  is  running  away  to 
save  his  life  and  yet  praying,  "It  is  enough  ;  0  Lord,  let 
me  die  1" 

There  is  no  more  common  delusion  than  the  notion  that  it 
is  great  evidence  of  piety  to  bo  willing  to  die.    Often  we  hear 
that  such  a  one,  "  was  resigned  to  die,"   as  proof  conclusive 
of  a  converted  heart.     But  from  this  place  we  may  sec  that 
such  desire  may  consist  with  actual  disobedience.  And,  beside, 
the  heart  is  deceitful,  and  there  may  not  be  the  willingness 
that  we  suppose,  when  it  comes  to  the  crisis.     There  is  a 
deep  insight  into  the  workings  of  the  human  heart  in  that 
old  fable  of  the  school  books,  of  the  labourer  who  weary, 
exhausted  and  disgusted  with  life,  threw  down  his  burden  and 
prayed  for  death  to  come  and  relieve  his  labours  ;   but  when 
Death  did  come  in  answer  to  his  petition,  asking,    "  What  is 
wanting?"  the  petitioner  responded,   "  Nothing,  save  some 
one  to  help  me  raise  my  burden,  that  I  may  get  under  it 
again !"     The  readiness  to  die  may  not  be  as  real  as  men 
suppose  if  put  to  the  test.     On  the  other  hand,  Christians 
often  make  the  mistake  of  writing  bitter  things  against  them- 
selves because  they  cannot  feel  willing  to  die,  should  God 
call  them  to-day.     Whereas,  all  that  this  could  prove,  if  any- 
thing, is  that,  probably,  God  does  not  intend  calling  them 
to-day.     When  the  day  comes  for  actual  dying,  then  will  he 
give  the  grace  for  dying.      What  we  need  to-day  is  grace  to 
live.    "  Give  us  ilds  day" — day  by  day — "  our  daily  bread" 


184  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDENCY. 

is  the  method  of  God's  dispensation  of  grace.  Hence,  how 
many  a  pastor  has  been  surprised  as  v/ell  as  comforted  at 
finding  the  feeble,  timid  one  of  his  flock,  that  at  first  shrunk 
back  in  terror  from  the  thought  of  dying,  able,  when  the  day 
comes,  to  shout  with  triumph,  "  0  Death,  where  is  thy  sting?" 
and  endowed  with  a  strength  of  faith  that  surpasses  that  of 
the  most  fearless. 

Jehovah  is  compassionate  to  h'"-  weak  and  suffering  prophet. 
''  He  knoweth  our  frame,  he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust.'' 
So,  as  the  prophet  lies  there  exhausted  and  unconscious,  a 
heavenly  messenger  comes  with  the  provision  needful  to 
sustain  sinking  nature,  and,  placing  it  within  reach,  arouses 
him  saying,  ^''  Arise  and  eat."  Remembering  how  Jehovah 
had  miraculously  fed  him  during  his  previous  exile,  we  would 
suppose  Elijah  must  at  once  understand  the  case,  and  recog- 
nize Jehovah's  special  presence.  But,  such  is  his  condition 
of  bodily  exhaustion  and  of  spiritual  stupor,  that  he  seems,  at 
the  first  call,  to  be  aroused  only  to  consciousness  enough 
merely  to  reach  forth,  as  by  a  sort  of  instinct,  and  take  the 
food.  "He  did  eat  and  drink  and  laid  him  down  again." 
But  after  a  time  he  is  aroused  again  and  restored  fully  to 
consciousness,  and  to  some  reflection  on  his  case,  alone  there 
in  the  desert.  He  seems  not  yet  to  perceive  that  he  is  out 
of  the  way  of  duty,  and  therefore  is  wandering  in  darkness. 

Nothing  could  be  more  life-like  than  the  views  of  this 
pictorial  history  of  the  spiritual  darkness  of  a  true  child  of 
God.  Elijah  is  perplexed  with  regard  to  his  vocation,  and 
puzzled  at  the  mysterious  ways  of  Jehovah  in  seeming  to 
stop  the  good  work  so  gloriously  begun  on  Mount  Carmel. 
He  feels  badly,  and  begins  now  to  study  out  some  remedy 
for  himself.  Here  he  sits,  an  exile  in  the  burning  desert, 
feeling  himself  an  outcast  from  God  and  the  world.  In  spirit 
he  is  back  upon  Carmel,  and  sees  the  people  reeling  in  the 
idolatrous  orgies  of  Baal,  as  his  priests  announce  that  the 


SELF    RESTORATION    BY    ^YJLL    WORSHIP.         185 

Jehovah  prophet,  after  coming  to  disturb  Israel,  has  fled. 
He  is  in  the  streets  of  Jezreel,  and  hears  them  resoundinir 
with  blasphemies,  Jezebel  drunk  with  the  blood  of  Jehovah's 
people  whom  his  mightj  work  on  Carmel  has  caused  publicly 
to  commit  themselves.  Ahab  is  again  raging  at  the  prophet 
that  troubled  Israel,  All  seems  lost.  Elijah  feels  badly, 
very  badly.  Utterly  disgusted  with  such  a  world  he  will 
hide  himself  in  the  impenetrable  sohtudes  of  the  desert.  He 
will,  by  way  of  diverting  his  thoughts  from  the  disgraceful 
degradation  of  the  present  Israel,  go  and  hold  communion 
with  the  glorious  past  of  Israel's  history.  He  will  visit  the 
very  spots  in  the  desert  where  his  forefathers,  led  by  the 
fiery,  cloudy  pillar,  camped  and  worshipped.  Nay,  he  will 
penetrate  to  the  very  Mount  of  God  itself  which  smoked 
under  the  touch  of  Jehovah's  foot,  and  shot  forth  the  light- 
nings and  reverberated  the  thunders,  as  he  delivered  to  the 
awe-struck  congregation  his  great  law.  There,  amid  such 
hallowed  associations  his  drooping  spirit  shall  certainly  be 
revived  and  strengthened,  and  he  will  feel  better. 

Brethren,  here  you  have  the  original  principle  so  plausible 
and  pious  seeming  from  which  developes  most  of  the  will 
worship  that  corrupts  religion.  It  is  in  this  effort  of  the  soul, 
in  its  uneasiness  and  unrest  under  a  spiritual  cloud,  to  relieve 
itself  by  substituting  the  culture  of  imagination  in  religious 
worship,  instead  of  the  direct  culture  of  the  heart.  It  will 
substitute  devout  sentimentalism  for  communion  with  God 
through  his  appointed  means  of  the  word  and  ordinances.  It 
is  the  blind  instinct  within  them  that  impels  men  to  some  sort 
of  worship,  while  the  hardness  of  heart  and  darkness  of  mind 
keeps  them  from  the  spiritual  communion.  Hence  the  com- 
mon mistake,  when  their  religion  fails  to  answer  its  end,  of 
supposing  that  it  is  their  circumstances  in  life  which  prevent 
their  being  Christians.  It  is,  they  think,  the  pressure  of 
temptation  from  the  world's  fascinating  pleasures  ;  or  absorb- 


ISG  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN"  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDENCY. 

ing  care  from  the  world's  rough  business  ;  or  irritability  of 
spirit  from  the  world's  heartless  and  cruel  usage.  If  they 
could  once  get  to  some  retired  cottage  ;  some  community  of 
pale  sisters  wholly  devoted  to  God — or  of  self-sacrificing 
brethren — where  they  could  renounce  the  world  ;  or  if  they 
could  enjoy  some  impressive  ritual  whose  beautiful  prayers, 
and  chants,  with  music  resounding  through  "  long  drawn 
aisle  and  fretted  vault,"  bathed  in  "  dim  rehgious  light," 
which  might  raise  their  absorbed  spirits  on  wings  of  devotion, 
then  surely,  they  would  at  once  grow  in  grace  and  make 
high  attainments  in  sanctity. 

The  religion  that  ministers  to  this  feeling  evinces  its  pro- 
found knowledge  of  human  nature  and  human  weakness,  but 
not  a  very  profound  knowledge  of  God's  word,  and  insight 
into  its  principles  of  worship. 

Well,  Elijah  strengthened  in  the  physical  man  and  refreshed, 
journeys  on  southward  toward  Sinai.  And,  doubtless,  as  he 
passes  spot  after  spot  in  the  desert,  where  once  the  camp  of 
Israel  and  the  tabernacle  stood,  he  finds  his  mind  deeply 
interested,  his  imagination  active  and  his  heart  filled  with 
emotion.  But,  alas,  his  spiritual  man  is  as  dark,  discontented 
and  restless  as  before.  Still  he  is  persuaded  that  it  w^ill  be 
different  when  he  shall  have  reached  that  great  theatre  of 
Jehovah's  glory.  Mount  Horeb.  He  will  go  to  the  very  spot 
where  Jehovah  stood  and  uttered  his  law  ;  and  beyond  ques- 
tion the  sacredness  of  that  spot  will  exalt  his  spirit  as  he 
touches  it,  and  fill  him  with  holy  peace  !  Thus  onward, 
onward,  for  forty  days  ;  fresh  images  arising  before  him  every 
day  ;  here  the  little  oasis,  there  the  palm-trees— there  the 
rock  where  his  forefathers  had  camped  and  the  pillar  rested 
over  the  tabernacle,  and  Moses  held  a  council  with  the  elders 
— but  still  his  soul  is  restless  and  uncomfortable. 

At  length,  in  the  southern  horizon,  begin  to  loom  up  the 
peaks  of  the  Sinai  range,  and  then  the  lower  Mount  Horeb, 


SELF    RESTORATION"    BY    TTILL    ^ORSniP.         187 

the  Mountain  of  God.  As  he  approaches  nearer  they  grow 
more  bold,  rough  and  rocky,  and  put  on  the  appearance  of  a 
magnificent  temple  of  worship  reared  by  God  for  himself  in 
the  eternal  solitude.  And  yet  there  is  disappointment.  The 
spiritual  man  is  not  refreshed  as  he  expected.  Still  he  moves 
on  and  begins  to  climb  the  dark,  rocky  heights  ;  but  for  all 
that  he  can  see,  it  is  simply  an  immense  piling  up  of  porphyry, 
granite  and  grunstein.  It  is  just  like  any  other  porpliyry, 
or  granite.  Kight  draws  on  apace  as  he  climbs  ;  soon  he  can 
see  no  longer  the  mountain  ridges  and  sand  plains  far  below 
him ;  his  thoughts  are  shut  up  to  himself  and  the  spot  where 
he  stands.  He  is  alone,  forsaken,  an  outcast  from  human 
fellowship.  The  enthusiasm  dies  out,  and  the  physical  nature, 
sustained  till  now  by  the  supernatural  food,  begins  its  cravings ; 
and,  with  the  growing  lassitude  dies  out  the  spirit  of  adven- 
ture and  the  desire  to  explore  any  farther.  A  gloomy  cave 
in  the  rock  opens  before  him,  into  which  he  casts  himself  for 
shelter  and  rest ;  and  wrapping  his  mantle  about  him  he  gives 
way  to  dismal  forebodings.  Shall  he  now  be  left  here  to  die 
of  exhaustion  and  hunger  ?  For  he  has  not  the  strengtli  left 
to  retrace  his  long  and  weary  way  over  the  burning  sands. 
In  a  troubled  slumber,  perhaps,  the  Avord  of  Jehovah  comes 
to  him  as  aforetime.  But,  to  his  surprise  and  grief  it  is  in  a 
tone  of  reproachful  rebuke, "  What  chest  thou  here,  Elijah?^'' 
Strange  implication  !  that,  after  all  his  toil  and  laborious 
devotion  to  come  thus  piously  to  the  Mount  of  God,  he  should 
receive  this  which  is  any  thing  but  an  approving  welcome  ! 
With  a  spirit  yet  unbroken  and  chafing  under  the  reproof,  he 
answers  back,  reciting  in  a  spirit  of  self-justification  his  devo-' 
tion  and  his  troubles,  ^'  I  have  been  very  jealous  for  Jehovah, 
— Israel  has  cast  contempt  upon  liis  covenant  and  ordinances 
— murdered  his  servants — I  am  left  alone,  and  hunted  down 
as  a  panting  hart  on  the  mountains."  Is  it  not  time  for  thee^ 
to  visit  vengeance  for  such  sins  ?     But  instead  of  words  of 


188  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN"  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDENCY. 

'Commendation  of  his  zeal,  or  of  sympathy  with  his  sorrows, 
ho  receives  simply  the  command,  ''  Go  forth,  and  stand  before 
Jehovah." 

Elijah  obeys  the  call,  assured  now  that,  like  Moses  of  old, 
he  shall  witness  the  terrible  majesty  of  Jehovah,  as  when  he 
descended  upon  this  mountain  and  it  smoked  at  his  touch. 
That  would  have  suited  his  present  frame  of  mind.  He  would 
enjoy  beholding  the  terrors  of  the  Almighty,  after  seeing  the 
wickedness  of  Jezebel  and  of  apostate  Israel,  and  after  think- 
ing of  the  murder  of  his  fellow-prophets.  It  would  comfort 
him  to  feel  that  vengeance  and  power  belongeth  unto  Jehovah. 
But,  as  creeping  out  of  his  hiding  place,  he  stands  erect  in 
the  murky  darkness,  a  strange  event  suddenly  breaks  the 
awful  silence.  In  an  instant  a  tornado  bursts  forth,  as  if 
jnaddened  by  long  imprisonment  under  the  everlasting  hills. 
It  hurls  the  rocks,  plunging,  thundering,  bursting  down  the 
cliffs.  The  clouds  dash  over  the  sky  as  the  squadrons  of  a 
mighty  army  of  cavalry  in  fierce  conflict ;  the  sand-deserts 
seem  aroused  into  a  fury  of  passion  and  toss  their  curling 
billows  to  the  sky  as  though  an  ocean  of  waters  ! 

Elijah  is  filled  with  awe  at  the  magnificence  of  God ;  but 
alas,  though  he  stands  aw^e-struck,  no  voice  of  comfort  and 
•sympathy  speaks  to  his  darkened  spirit.  The  tornado  ceases 
as  suddenly  as  it  began  ;  and  in  a  moment  all  is  calm ;  but 
Elijah  is  comfortless— ^'JeJiovaJt  was  not  in  the  tornado.''^ 

Suddenly,  however,  the  solid  mountain  under  his  feet  begins 
to  vibrate,  and  now  rocks  as  a  skiff  tossed  upon  waves  of  the 
sea.  The  rocks  that  just  now  Avere  split  by  the  tornado,  seem 
ready  to  fall  upon  each  other  ;  the  sand-deserts  undulate  as 
the  sea  under  a  ground  swell ;  hills  sink,  valleys  open,  chasms 
jawn,  nature  seems  in  convuh.ions  around  him.  Still  more 
terrible  is  this  view  of  the  magnificence  and  majesty  of  God. 
But  when,  in  a  moment,  all  is  stilL  again,  he  stands  in  cold, 
-comfortless  silence  as  before.  For  all  this  brings  no  peace 
to  his  agitated  spirit — '-^Jehovah  teas  not  in  the  earihqiiahe  V 


LESSONS    OF    IIORKB    THAT    liESTORE    FAITH.     ISD 

Suddenly  a  mighty  fire  gleams  forth,  lighting  up  the  dark 
cliffs,  as  though  the  heavens  Avere  on  fire  over  his  head.  It 
crackles  and  roars,  as  it  swoops  past  him,  and  fills  his  soul 
with  still  greater  awe  and  dread.  But  still  he  is  left  stand- 
ing after  it  passes  in  the  same  cold  gloominess  of  spirit, — 
^'' Jehovah  IV m  not  in  the  fire  P'^  All  the  terrific  images  of 
Jehovah's  greatness  and  terribleness,  while  they  affect  deeply 
his  imagination,  have  not  touched  his  heart.  So  thousands 
have  found  it  since,  who  in  their  weariness  and  disgust  with 
the  world,  have  taken  to  these  Horeb  pilgrimages,  and 
attempted  through  the  imagination  to  rise  to  spiritual  com- 
munion with  God. 

Tranquillity  now  reigns  once  more  and  the  solemn  stillness 
of  the  sanctuary,  as  though  Horeb,  Sinai,  mountain  cliffs  and 
sand-deserts,  aroused  from  their  slumber  are  all  lying  in  mute 
awe  and  adoration  at  the  feet  of  Jehovah.  A  ''■  still  small 
voice"  at  length  breaks  the  silence,  and,  though  repeating 
the  question, "  What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah  ?"  yet,  somehow, 
now  its  accents  seem  to  murmur  softly  in  the  very  depths  of 
his  soul.  It  is  a  tender,  gentle,  complaining  voice,  as  that 
which  said  in  Gethsemane — "  What,  could  ye  not  watch  with 
me  one  hour?"  It  breaks  Elijah's  heart.  Abashed,  confused, 
humbled,  he  covers  his  face  with  his  mantle  ;  and  though  he 
too  utters  the  same  words  in  response,  yet  how  changed  their 
tone  and  spirit !  It  is  in  the  accents  of  a  subdued  and  hum- 
bled child— those  wailing  accents  at  once  of  penitence  and 
confidence,  which  never  yet  father,  that  was  not  a  monster, 
could  resist.  "  I  have  been  very  jealous  for  Jehovah  ;"  thou 
knowest  how  sincerely  I  grieved  at  the  dishonour  of  his  name. 
Israel, — poor  children  of  the  covenant — led  astray  by  servants 
of  the  Devil,  has  apostatised.  Thy  prophets,  the  witnesses 
for  the  truth,  have  all  been  slain.  No  other  voice  than  mine 
remains  to  be  lifted  up  in  testimony  for  Jehovah.  And  mo 
they  persecute  to  the  death." 


190  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  DESPONDENCY. 

m 

Elijah  is  now  prepared  for  instruction,  light  and  restora- 
tion. Indeed  the  marvellous  events  of  the  night  have  shown 
him  how  Jehovah  judgeth,  not  as  man  judgeth,  of  the  means 
to  affect  the  soul.  That  his  expectations  of  crushing  Israel 
into  obedience  by  the  mere  vengeful  power  of  Jehovah's 
judgments,  in  shutting  up  the  heavens  from  watering  the 
earth,  in  commissioning  the  sword  of  justice — were  all  his 
own  weak  devices,  not  Jehovah's  purposes,  bejond  what  he 
had  already  done.  The  rush  of  the  tornado  in  its  fury  ;  the 
rocking  of  the  earthquake  ;  the  roar  and  crackle  of  the  fire 
storm — all  these  had  failed  to  subdue  his  own  spirit.  How 
then  shall  the  manifestations  of  Jehovah's  power  and  ven- 
geance subdue  the  hard  and  rebellious  heart  of  Israel  ?  The 
soft  accents  of  kindness  and  reproach  had  triumphed  where 
tornado,  earthquake,  fire-storm,  all  had  failed. 

In  accordance  with  all  this  is  the  lesson  and  instructions 
now  given.  First,  "  Go,  anoint  Ilazael,  king  over  Syria^ 
and  Jehu,  king  over  Israel."  Judgment  must  indeed  come 
upon  the  apostates,  according  to  my  solemn  oath  and  warn- 
ing. But  it  befits  not  my  prophets,  the  preachers  of  my 
gospel,  to  be  the  executioners  and  the  men  of  blood.  I  will 
use  Satan  against  Satan.  Ilazael  and  Jehu,  men  of  blood, 
shall  accompUsh  my  mission  of  vengeance  better  than  thou. 
^'  Go  also,  and  anoint  as  thy  successor  the  amiable  Elisha, 
son  of  Shaphat ;"  for  there  is  also  a  mission  of  love  to  Israel 
to  gather  out,  comfort  and  edify  mine  elect  in  the  midst  of 
the  work  of  vengeance.  He  shall  go  forth  a  Barnabas,  son 
of  consolation,  as  thou  hast  gone  forth  Boanerges,  son  of 
thunder.  Ho  shall  "  go  forth  eating  and  drinking"  with  the 
people,  affectionately  winning  them  to  the  gospel ;  as  thou 
hast  gone  forth,  "•  neither  eating  nor  drinking,"  warning  them 
of  sin  and  calling  to  repentance. 

And  think  not  thou  art  alone^that  there  is  no  need  of 
such  a  ministry  to  a  nation  of  reprobates,  that  all  are  vessels 


LESSONS    OF    llOREB    THAT    KESTORE    FAITJl.      191 

of  ^vrath  fitted  to  destruction.  Thou  art  not  alone  ;  for  I 
have  sealed  as  mine  these  seven  thousand,  who,  like  thee, 
have  refused  to  bow  the  knee  to  Baal ;  though  unlike  thee, 
they  have  not  felt  called  upon  openly  to  resist  Ahab  and 
Jezebel. 

Now  Elijah's  eyes  are,  opened  and  his  bands  are  loosed. 
The  dark  puzzle  is  solved  ;  all  is  clear  enough.  With  light 
heart  and  elastic  step  he  takes  his  way  backward  toward 
Israel.  What  though  Jezebel  is  there,  yet  seven  thousand  of 
Jehovah's  saints  are  there  ;  and  the  eternal  shield  of  Jehovah 
is  there  to  be  a  shelter  over  them  and  him  ? 

I  must  leave  to  your  own  deductions  and  reflections  the 
varied  and  striking  practical  lessons  which  this  story  of  the 
ancient  gospel  of  the  kingdom  in  conflict  with  desponding 
faith  affords  to  every  desponding  child  of  God  ;  to  every  soul 
in  darkness,  vainly  striving  to  devise  the  means  of  its  own 
recovery,  rather  than  by  simply  returning  to  God  in  penitence 
and  faith  ;  and  to  every  soul  tempted  to  bitterness  and  un- 
charitableness.  "  Elijah  was  a  man  subject  to  like  passions 
as  we  are,"  saith  the  Apostle.  Let  us  not  forget,  brethren, 
that  ''  we  are  men  subject  to  like  passions  as  Elijah  ;*'  with 
yet  far  lower  attainments  in  grace  ;  and,  therefore,  far  weaker 
in  the  hour  of  temptation  and  trial.  We  need,  then,  to  ''  come 
boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  find  mercy  and 
grace  to  help  us  in  the  time  of  need." 


DISCOCJRSE  IX. 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  PARDONING  MERCY  AS  PREACHED  BY  THE 
PROPHETS  OP  THE  KINGDOM. 

Isaiah  i.  10,  18. — Elear  the  word  of  the  Lord,  ye  rulers  of  Sodom  ;  Give 
ear  unto  the  law  of  our  God,  ye  people  of  Gomorrah.  To  what  purpose  i? 
the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto  me,  saith  the  Lord.  *  ♦  ♦  Bring  no 
more  vain  oblations,  incense  is  an  abomination  unto  me  ;  the  new  moons 
and  Sabbaths,  the  calling  of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with ;  it  is  ini- 
quity, even  the  solemn  meeting.  *  ♦  And  when  ye  spread  forth  your 
hands  I  will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you  ;  yea,  when  ye  make  many  prayers  I 
will  not  hear,  your  hands  are  full  of  blood.  Wash  you  and  make  you 
clean.   *    * 

Come  now  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord  ;  though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red  like 
crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool. 

"I  PRAY  thee  of  whom  speaketh  the  prophet  this  ?  Of 
himself  (and  his  generation  only),  or  of  some  other  persons." 
To  answer  this  important  inquiry,  we  need  but  analyze  care- 
fully the  picture  of  the  sins  which  the  prophet  sets  before  his 
people,  as  preliminary  to  his  glorious,  full  and  free  offer  of 
mercy. 

First, — A  marked  feature  of  the  portraiture,  here  drawn, 
is  that  they  are  sinners  under  the  light  of  Jehovah's  special 
re'velations  and  appointed  ordinances.  It  is  now  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  since  what  may  be  called  the  New  Testament 
of  the  ancient  Church  was  given  through  David  and  Solomon ; 
the  last  form  of  the  development  of  the  old  covenants.  And, 
under  this  new  form,  setting  forth  the  typical  throne  and 
typical  kingdom  of  Messiah,  prophet  after  prophet  has  been 

N 


194    PARDONING    MERCY    AS    PREACPIED    BY    PROFIIETs. 

raised  up  to  expound  and  develop  still  more  clearly  the  great 
scheme  of  Redemption.  Schools  of  the  prophets  have  existed 
since  Samuel,  sending  forth  teachers,  to  expound  the  gospel 
of  the  kingdom.  And  the  very  division  and  secession  of 
northern  Israel  has,  incidentally,  tended  to  keep  alive  a  spirit 
of  zeal  for  the  ordinances  as  adapted  by  David  and  Solomon 
to  the  settled  state  of  the  natio'a. 

Second. — These  sinners  are  such  in  face  of  every  obliga- 
tion of  love  and  gratitude  to  Jehovah,  arising  out  of  peculiar 
blessings  and  privileges.  To  say  nothing  of  the  privileges 
which  caused  David  to  sing,  ''  Blessed  is  the  people  whose 
God  is  Jehovah,"  and,  ''  What  one  nation  in  the  earth  is  like 
thy  people,  even  like  Israel ;"  Jehovah,  since  David,  has 
blessed  them  far  beyond  their  deserts  ;  and  the  strokes  of  his 
chastisements  have  been  far  fewer  than  their  crimes.  Gene- 
ration after  generation,  he  hath  continued  to  interpose  his 
shield  for  their  protection  against  all  foes,  and  to  cause  their 
cup  of  joy  to  overflow. 

Thirdly, — Yet  in  the  midst  of  all  these  mercies,  sin  every- 
where abounds.  The  public  men  and  the  people  alike  are 
corrupt.  The  moral  perceptions  of  men  seem  blunted,  until 
the  gratitude  of  the  very  brutes  is  a  reproach  to  these  chil- 
dren whom  Jehovah  hath  nourished  and  brought  up.  "  The 
ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib,  but  Israel 
doth  not  know,  his  people  do  not  consider."  Corruption  in 
the  high  places  of  justice  abounds.  The  rulers  are  rulers 
of  Sodom.  Yea,  violence  and  blood  stalk  abroad  through 
the  land  ;  and  their  popular  vices  are  so  debasing  and  degra- 
ding that  not  only  their  rulers  are  as  rulers  of  Sodom,  but 
their  people  are  as  the  people  of  Gomorrah. 

Fourthly, — And  yet  all  this  wickedness  clothes  itself  in  the 
garb  of  religion.  The  outward  forms  of  worship  are  puncti- 
liously observed.  The  wealth  that  has  been  coined  out  of  the 
groans  and  tears,  and  blood  of  the  oppressed,  the  weak,  the 


THE    SINNERS    TO    WHOM    THIS    GOSPEL    COMES.    195 

fiitherless  and  the  Avidow,  is  lavished  on  costly  religious  cere- 
monial. With  great  pomp  the  solemn  feasts  are  observed  ; 
with  great  show  of  sanctity  prayers  are  multiiilied,  and 
sacrifices  and  oblations.  But  the  worship  is  all  a  mere 
phantom  worship.  No  conscious  presence  of  Jehovah  gives 
it  power  over  the  spirit.  It  is  a  sanctimonious  masquerade 
before  Jehovah.  Counterfeit,  hollow  voices,  utter  its  heart- 
less petitions,  and  shout  its  empty  hallelujahs.  There  is  no 
eye  of  faith  to  look  through  these  magnificent  scenes  of  the 
temple  worship  and  see  them,  as  the  prophet  saw  them, — 
when  he  saw  "  The  Lord  Jehovah  high  and  lifted  up,  and  his 
train  filled  the  temple,"  as  it  expanded  to  the  dimensions  of 
the  universe.  No  ear  of  faith  discerns,  in  the  sounds  that  fill 
the  temple  courts,  what  the  prophet  heard  ;  as  the  reality  of 
which  the  outer  temple  worship  is  the  symbol — the  seraphim 
floating  above  the  throne  and  one  singing  "  Holy !"  the 
other  answering  "  Holy !"  and  then  both  in  chorus  shout- 
ing "Holy  is  Jehovah  of  hosts  !  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  his 
glory."     - 

Brethren,  it  is  one  of  the  saddest  and  most  solemn  of  the 
warnings  both  of  the  word  of  God  and  of  experience,  that  the 
vilest  of  sins,  and  the  worst  of  sinners,  may  be  found  within 
the  very  enclosures  of  Jehovah's  covenant.  And  that  may  be 
the  case,  too,  at  the  very  time  when  the  Church  and  Christian- 
ized community  are  most  consciously  admiring  their  own  extra 
piety,  and  with  most  imposing  parade,  attending  very  puncti- 
liously upon  the  outward  worship  of  God.  It  has  been  so 
under  every  era  of  the  revelation  of  God.  Isaiah  found  in  the 
divinely  constituted  Church  of  God  these  rulers  of  Sodom  and 
people  of  Gomorrali ;  and  this  even  the  prevailing  typo  of  the 
religion  of  his  day.  It  was  in  the  divinely  chosen  Church,  in 
which  were  observed  the  punctilious  tithings  of  anise,  mint 
and  cummin,  that  Jesus  found  the  men  of  whom  he  said, 
"  Ye  hypocrites  I  how  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell !" 


196  PARDONING  MERCY  AS  PREACHED  BY  PROPHETS. 

It  was  holy  priests  and  elders,  too  scrupulous  to  enter  a 
heathen  governor's  house  on  a  holy  day,  that  could  yet.  In 
midnight  caucus,  during  the  holy  passover,  plot  the  murder 
of  the  Son  of  God.  It  is  within  the  circle  of  Christianized 
communities  that  the  prophetic  eye  of  the  Apostle  Paul  dis- 
cerns "  in  the  last  times,"  treacherous  and  corrupt  seducers, 
"  having  the  form  of  godliness,  and  denying  the  power 
thereof,"  that  shall  be  guilty  of  every  sin  against  God  and 
man. 

Let  us  not  think,  therefore,  that  it  cannot  be  of  such  times 
as  ours,  in  Protestant  Christendom,  that  the  prophet  speaks. 
Alas,  is  not  every  day  adding  to  the  proof  that  neither  light 
and  knowledge,  nor  infinite  obligation  for  distinguishing  mer- 
cies, nor  multitudes  of  fasts  and  festivals  and  holy  days,  and 
formal  acknowledgments  of  Jehovah  ;  nor  yet  immense  wealth 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  religion,  are,  any  of  them  or  all 
of  them,  any  guarantee  that  there  exists  not  high-handed 
wickedness,  oppression,  blood-thirst,  utter  decay  of  morals, 
and  apostasy  from  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  ?  But,  aside 
from  the  question,  as  it  affects  generally  our  age,  and  its 
moral  and  spiritual  condition,  let  us  not  forget  that  this  may 
be  a  very  iMrsonal  thing  to  ws,  and  to  our  condition  before 
God,  whatever  may  be  the  condition  of  the  age  generally. 
Do  you  recognize  any  of  the  features  of  the  prophet's  picture 
as  living  realities  ?  then  of  you  speaketh  the  prophet  thus. 
Whether  you  be  a  cold  formal  worshipper  who  have  lost  your 
first  love,  or  whether  thus  living  in  sin  without  ever  having 
come  to  Jehovah  and  assumed  the  vows  of  his  covenant — of 
you  the  prophet  speaketh  this  ! 

Having  considered  to  whom  he  speaks,  let  us  carefully  con- 
sider, in  the  next  place,  what  it  is  the  prophet  says  to  all  such. 
Observe,  it  embraces  three  points  chiefly.  First, — a  propo- 
sition to  stop  and  reason  the  matter  with  Jehovah.  Secondly, 
— the  subject  matter  of  the  parley  sin  and  its  aggravations. 


THE  GOSPEL  AN   APPEAL  TO  REASON.    197 

Thirdly, — the  remedy  for  sin — its  eflfectiveness,  certainty  and 
readiness. 

1.  "  Come  now  and  let  us  reason."  The  proposition  is  very 
suggestive ;  both  of  the  cause  why  men  continue  to  live  in 
sin ;  and  of  the  means  and  process  whereby  Jehovah  would 
bring  them  back  to  himself. 

The  grand  cause  of  the  continuance  in  sin  is  that  men  will 
not  reason  of  the  matter.  It  is  not  that  they  do  not  know 
enough  ;  but  they  do  not  reason  concerning  what  they  do 
know.  It  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the  human  soul  that,  as 
Coleridge  says,  truth  may  become  so  true  to  us  as  to  lose  all 
the  power  of  truth  over  our  understanding,  and  lie  stowed 
away  as  useless  rubbish  in  the  garners  of  memory.  Just  as 
sometimes  a  man  of  great  wealth,  from  want  of  skill  in  apply- 
ing wealth  to  its  practical  uses,  may  live  in  far  less  comfort 
than  many  a  man  of  half  his  means.  Just  as  sometimes  a 
man  may  have  vast  knowledge  ;  be  a  walking  encyclopoedia  ; 
and  yet,  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of  knowledge,  live  the 
life  of  a  fool.  So  men  may  have  all  knowledge  of  the  gospel, 
and  yet  live  practically  atheists. 

So  too  in  morals,  a  man  may  not  only  apprehend  fully,  but 
feel  strongly,  the  force  of  all  ethical  duties  and  obligations  ; 
and  yet  live  in  self-indulgence  and  dissipation  ;  and  in  prac 
tical  defiance  of  all  laws  of  morality.  Nor  is  it  from  want 
of  certainty,  as  men  sometimes  persuade  themselves,  that  they 
live  on  in  sin,  defying  Jehovah's  law  and  despising  his  gospel. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  every  man  that  lives 
must  die  ;  and  yet  perhaps  no  one  great  truth  produces  less 
impression  on  men.  They  live  just  as  if  they  are  to  live 
here  forever. 

Hence  the  gospel  call  comes  ever  as  a  cry  of  alarm  to 
arouse  men  and  arrest  their  thoughts,  "Come  let  us  reason !" 
"  A-wake,  0  sleeper,  and  call  upon  thy  God  !"  Reason,  as  an 
immortal  creature  should  reason.     And  the  first  process  in  a 


198  PARDONING  MERCY  AS  PREACHED  BY  PROPHETS, 

sinner's  conversion  is  this.  Hence  this  is  the  meaning  and 
purpose  of  all  gospel  ordinances,  so  far  as  relates  to  men  yet 
unconverted.  Christ  arranges  these  ordinances  and  his 
providences  so  that,  "  Wisdom  shall  lift  up  her  voice  in  the 
streets."  Through  his  ordinances  and  providences  he  is  ever 
calling  to  every  one,  as  he  passes  along  the  dusty  highways 
and  crowded  thoroughfares  of  life,  and  beckoning  a  halt? 
"  Ho  !  thou  man  of  business,  with  the  quick  step  and  restless 
eye — a  word  with  theo  I"  Is  all  this  hurry  of  thine  to  get  the 
^ork  done  before  ''  the  Master  come  in  such  an  hour  as  ye 
think  not  ?"  Ho  !  thou  man  of  finance — a  word  with  thee  ! — 
what  is  the  state  of  exchanges  ?  What  art  thou  taking  in 
exchange  for  thy  soul  ?  The  market  is  excited,  perhaps,  just 
now  ;  far  the  great  soul  broker  is  in  the  market,  buyhig  up 
largely  !  But  watch  thou  him  closely.  These  are  fancy  stocks 
of  his— nay  bogus  stocks  ;  and  sham  certificates,  beautifully 
engraved  indeed,  but  not  a  shilling  of  soul  specie  in  all  his  deep 
heli-vaults  to  redeem  their  treacherous  pledges.  Ho  !  thou 
old  man  garrulous  with  wise  saws  and  modern  instances,  to 
show  how  much  better  Avero  the  former  times,  than  these.  Is 
it  not  rather  a  late  watch  in  the  night,  with  thieves  prowling 
about  thee,  while  thou  art  discussing  the  degenerate  times  ? 
Ilast  thou  ever  thought  how  much  better  even  these  times  are 
than  the  quickly  coming  eternities,  to  all  who  come  to  them 
without  the  requisite  provision  ?  Ho !  thou  gay  youth  of 
pleasure — and  thou  gay,  fluttering  creature  of  fashion,  think- 
ing only  of  the  gorgeous  assemblies  for  revelry.  Is  not  the 
entertainment  growing  rather  dull  ?  And  hast  thou  made 
preparation  of  suitable  court  dress  for  the  still  more  gorgeous 
assembly  at  the  marriage  of  the  King's  Son  ? 

Yes,  "  stop  and  let  us  reason  together,"  is  the  first  call  of 
all  the  gospels.  Once  men  arc  persuaded  to  get  out  of  the 
•crowd,  for  a  private  Avord  with  Jehovah,  and  the  headway  i.i 
checked  a  little,  then  there  is  much  hope.     For  the  go^pol  0/ 


SIN"    MQST.    BE    TilE    FIRST    QUESTIOX    REASONED.     i'JD 

Jesus  seldom  foils  to  gain  its  purpose  once  men  will  earnestly 
attend  to  its  argument. 

Are  you  then  disposed  to  reason  the  matter  with  Jehovah  ? 
Well,  the  subject  of  which  he  would  speak  to  you  is  sin. 
Does  it  seem  to  you  to  need  apology,  that  he  should  call  you 
aside  to  speak  of  so  disagreeable  a  subject  ?  Then  the  apo- 
logy is  ample.  It  is  not  that  he  takes  pleasure  in  dwelling  on 
such  a  subject.  But  because,  in  the  essential  nature  of  the 
case,  this  must  now  bo  the  first  point,  in  discussing  the 
relation  between  God  and  man.  For  that  relation  has  been 
disturbed.  Sin  has  projected  its  dark,  broad  shadow  between 
you  and  God.  It  is  no  dogma  of  theology,  merely.  Your 
own  sad  experience,  every  day,  proclaims  your  soul  in  a 
state  of  disorder  and  disease.  A  curse  has  fallen  upon  it, 
which  finds  it's  response  in  the  aches,  and  ills,  and  pains,  and 
sicknesses,  and  sorrows  of  life.  Your  existence  here  is  a 
progressive  death.  "  The  moment  we  begin  to  live  wo  all 
begin  to  die."  And  all  this  because  of  sin.  Hence  this 
must  be  the  first  thing  to  be  settled.  Indeed  the  awakened 
sinner  who  has  begun  to  reason,  no  sooner  attempts  to 
speak  to  Jehovah  in  prayer,  than  this  consciousness  of  sin 
casts  a  cloud  over  his  vision,  and  silences  his  voice.  The 
backslider  finds  this  in  the  way  of  his  return  to  peace  and 
joy.  The  earnest  Christian  finds  sin  the  obstacle  ever 
interposing  between  himself  and  Jehovah.  There  is  there- 
fore no  help  for  it ;  Sin  must  be  the  first  subject  of  the 
reasoning. 

But  blessed  be  the  name  of  Jehovah  !  Though  he  calls  us 
to  reason  with  him  about  sin,  it  is  not  to  prove  to  us  how 
justly  he  might  damn  us  ;  but  how  this  sin  question  may  be 
arranged ;  if  once  we  fully  comprehend  the  greatness  and 
guilt  of  it  enough  to  desire  it  to  be  taken  away. 

How  shall  this  be  done  ?  Not  by  palliating  it !  not  by 
mitigating  the  enormity  of  it !    No,  but  by  fully,  heartily, 


200  PARDONING  MERCY  AS  PREACHED  BY  PROPHETS. 

honestly  admitting  it,  in  all  its  aggravations  !  ''  Though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet  and  red  like  crimson."  The  critics  tell  us 
that  one  of  the  terms  here  refers  to  the  outward  appearance, 
glaring,  attracting  and  fixing  the  attention  ;  the  other,  from  a 
root  signifying  double-dipped^  refers  to  the  ineffaceable 
stain  of  sin  upon  the  soul ;  a  stain  that  no  rain,  nor  sunshine, 
nor  dew  can  ever  Avash  out,  or  bleach.  The  meaning  is, 
however  aggravated  your  sins  may  be. 

What  then,  are  some  of  the  circumstances  that  aggravate 
sin  ?  For  though  every  sin  deserves  God's  wrath  and  curse, 
yet  some  sins,  in  their  nature,  and  by  reason  of  several 
aggravations,  are  more  heinous  in  the  sight  of  God  than 
others.  The  prophet's  picture  of  the  sinners  of  his  day  fur- 
nishes us  with  the  measure  of  these  aggravations. 

First,  then,  sins  are  aggravated,  sins  of  scarlet, — when 
committed  against  special  light  and  knowledge.  It  is  a 
principle  of  common  sense  that  the  servanu  vTho  knoweth  the 
master's  will,  and  yet  disobeys,  is  worthy  of  more  stripes  than 
he  who  knows  it  less  perfectly.  The  sinners  to  whom  Isaiah 
preached,  under  the  more  complete  revelation  of  the  coven- 
ant of  Grace,  th«"Ough  the  last  covenant  with  David,  sinned 
against  clearer  light,  than  the  sinners  to  whom  Moses  and 
Joshua  preached.  How  much  m.ore,  even  than  these  to 
whom  the  prophet  is  preaching,  do  sinners  now  sin  against 
clearer  light,  who  have  in  their  hands  the  last  and  complete 
development  of  the  New  Testament  covenant  of  grace — nay, 
and  over  and  above  this,  the  knowledge  of  the  outworking  of 
the  completed  scheme  of  grace,  under  his  providence,  through 
now  near  two  tliousand  years  ! 

And  not  only  so,  but  most  of  those  whom  I  address  have 
not  only  this  knowledge  in  their  possession,  but  the  calls  of 
the  gospel  have  been  urged  upon  them  by  every  conceivable 
motive,  and  every  most  potent  agency.  The  voice  of  the 
pastor  of  their  childhood  and  youth  has  plead.     The  voice  of 


ELEMENTS    OF    THE    SCARLET    AKD    CRIMSON"    SINS.  201 

the  sabbath  teacher  has  plead.  The  voice  of  a  father's 
authority  and  of  a  mother's  love  has  plead.  The  voice  of  a 
brother,  sister,  husband,  or  wife  or  bosom  friend  has  plead. 
0,  if  there  be  scarlet  sins,  from  light  and  knowledge  and 
motive  disregarded,  of  whom  could  the  prophet  speak  here 
more  pointedly  and  personally  than  you  ? 

In  the  second  place,  sins  are  aggravated  and  become 
scarlet  sins  when  committed  against  special  obligations  of 
gratitude.  Among  men,  no  character  is  esteemed  more  base 
than  the  ingrate.  When  you  would  overwhelm  one  with  the 
charges  of  a  terrible  indictment  that  shall  fasten  upon  him 
the  indignant  verdict  of  men,  you  rehearse  how  you  served 
him  in  the  day  of  his  distress  and  adversity  ;  fed  him  in  the 
days  of  his  poverty  ;  or  stood  his  friend  when  maUce  assailed 
him,  and  all  forsook  him  and  fled ;  and  yet,  how  he  has 
turned  upon  liis  benefactor  with  malignity,  or  treated  you 
with  neglect  and  contempt.  And  why  should  it  be  held  less 
an  aggravation  in  him  Avho  plays  the  ingrate  toward  Jehovah, 
"  from  whom  cometh  down  every  good  and  perfect  gift  ?"  If 
so,  then  I  pray  thee,  '^  of  whom  speaketh  the  prophet  this,'' 
if  not  of  you,  who  cannot  recall  an  hour  of  life  unmarked  by 
some  blessing  from  Jehovah  ?  Mercies  have  showered  upon 
you.  Mercies  to  your  country — mercies  to  your  neighbour- 
hood— mercies  to  your  friends — mercies  to  your  family  ;  per- 
sonal mercies — and  these  of  all  classes — mercies  temporal — 
mercies  spiritual — ^mercies  of  providence — mercies  of  grace. 
Through  the  whole  journey  of  life,  from  the  cradle  to  the 
present  hour,  you  have  tread,  at  every  step,  upon  mercies — 
strewn  as  flowers  in  your  pathway,  and  their  perfume  fills  the 
very  air  you  breathe  !  And  yet,  perhaps,  you  have  seldom 
thouglit  of  him  ;  nay,  worse,  have  treated  his  offers  of  par- 
doning grace  with  contempt,  and  set  his  holy  will  at  defiance 
Verily,  if  there  be  sins  of  scarlet,  such  sins  are  these  ! 

In  the  third  place,  sins  may  be  aggravated,  and  become 


202    PAliDOXI^^G    MERCY    AS    PREACHED    BY    PROPHETS, 

sins  of  scarlet  and  red  like  crimson,  from  the  social  position 
of  those  who  sin,  or  their  relative  position  towards  others, 
or  their  peculiar  gifts  and  endowments  which  give  them  influ- 
ence over  others.  This  is  on  the  score  of  the  consequences  of 
the  sins,  as  well  as  of  their  intrinsic  baseness.  For  such  is  the 
social  constitution  of  our  present  state,  that,  in  a  high  sense, 
every  man  is  his  brother's  keeper  ;  and  is  justly  held  account- 
able for  the  influence  of  his  sins  on  others  as  well  as  on  him- 
self Wo  are  the  creatures  of  influence.  We  speak  each 
other's  words,  wo  think  each  other's  thoughts,  we  are  moved 
by  each  other's  emotions,  we  borrow  each  other's  looks,  we 
breathe  each  other's  breath.  The  fashion  of  our  moral  exist- 
ence is  that  of  an  infinite  web  whose  centre  is  the  throne  of 
God  and  its  circuit  the  universe.  Each  intelligent  being  is  a 
mesh  of  that  great  web  ;  and  his  every  moral  movement 
vbrates,  as  the  stroke  upon  th*  water,  wave  following  wave, 
inward  to  the  centre,  and  outward  to  the  circumference  ! 
The  sins  of  men  long  dead  thus  live  still,  in  their  influ- 
ence on  men  still  living  :  and  the  sins  of  men  in  distant 
parts  of  the  earth  come  vibrating  over  us  on  their  mission  of 
evil. 

Now,  in  such  a  world,  what  must  be  the  character  of  the 
sins  of  pubhc  men,  and  of  magistrates  in  high  civil  positions  ? 
Does  not  the  prophet  justly  describe  them  as  rulers  of  Sodom  ? 
AVhile  the  sins  of  men  in  private  station — their  revelries — 
their  profanity — their  contempt  of  Jehovah — are  indeed 
.great,  yet  their  influence  for  evil  is  not  so  great  as  the  same 
sins  of  men  in  exalted  position.  In  the  one  case  the  sinful 
passions  and  lusts  rage  indeed,  but  rage,  as  the  volcano  of 
Moana  Roa  rages,  in  the  depths  of  its  deep  gulph,  sending 
up  their  exhalations.  In  the  other  case,  the  sins  are  as  the 
overflow  of  some  Etna  or  Vesuvius  carrying  devastation 
and  death,  as  the  fiery  flood  rolls  downward  over  the  plain. 
AVhat  shall  we  &ay,  therefore,  of  the  sins  of  public  official 


ELEMENTS    OF    THE    SCARLET    AND    CRIMSON   SINS.  203 

men  ?  Of  the  sins  of  unofficial  men,  who  by  tlieir  gifts, 
their  wealth,  or  their  natural  power  of  influence,  are  enabled 
to  mould  the  thoughts  and  tastes  of  thousands  ?  Especi- 
ally what  shall  we  say  of  the  sins  of  masters  of  households, 
whoso  influence  often  extends  to  hundreds  of  servants  ?  Of 
the  sins  of  fathers  and  mothers,  to  whom  God  has  given  to 
stand  a?  his  representatives  to  their  children  ?  Shall  such 
not  feel  that  the  prophet  here  speaketh  of  them — as  guilty  of 
the  scarlet  sins  and  red  like  crimson  ? 

In  the  fourth  place,  sins  may  be  aggravated  as  being  com- 
mitted against  special  covenants  and  vows  ;  and  thereby 
implying  peculiar  faithlessness  and  recklessness  ;  on  the  prin- 
ciple com:noii  among  men  that,  the  breach  of  a  solemn  bond 
is  more  faithless  than  a  failure  to  meet  any  other  engagement. 
This  was  the  special  aggravation  of  the  sin  of  those  to  whom 
the  prophet  preached.  They  were  solemnly  engaged  hy 
covenants  with  Abraham,  with  Moses,  and  Avith  David,  to  be 
peculiarly  Jehovah's  peo})le,  as  he  to  be  peculiarly  their  God 
and  Redeemer.  In  this  re2;ard,  their  sins  were  more  a^^vdi- 
vated  than  those  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  whose  cry  ascended 
up  to  heaven,  and  brought  down  the  fires  of  vengeance. 
For  beside  the  intrinsic  wickedness  of  doing  the  deeds  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  these  sinners,  in  so  sinning,  added 
the  guilt  of  faithlessness  to  their  solemn  vows  and  the  vows 
of  their  fathers. 

It  is  this  that  gives  their  peculiar  aggravation  to  the  sins 
of  such  as  have  formally  and  publicly  entered  into  the  coven- 
ant of  Jehovah,  in  our  day.  They  add  to  the  intrinsic  guilt 
of  their  transgressions,  this  violation  of  solemn  faith  pledged. 
And  on  this  account  it  is,  that  their  sins  are  also  the  most 
hurtful  in  their  influence,  by  bringmg  reproach  on  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ,  as  a  religion  that  hinders  not  its  votaries 
from  being  faithless.  Here  again,  as  you  contemplate  the 
low  standard  of  the  Christian  life — see  you  not  the  prophet 
speaketh  thus  of  us  ? 


204  PARDON-ING  MERCY  AS  PREACHED  BY  PROPHETS. 

Having  reasoned  thus  of  the  matter,  do  jou  find  that  as 
jou  reason,  jour  sins  rise  up  before  you  glaring  as  scarlet? 
Does  the  despairing  conviction  come  over  jou  that  the  stain 
is  ineffaceable  ?  that  the  soul  is  double-dipped  in  transgres- 
sions that  are  as  crimson  ?  Are  you  ready  to  cry  out, 
"  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in  thy  sight,  and 
am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son  !"  Say  you,  "  Behold 
I  am  vile,  what  shall  I  answer  thee  ;"  "  mine  iniquities  have 
gone  over  my  head,  they  are  a  burden  too  heavy  for  me  ?" 
Then  Jehovah  has  somewhat  more  to  say.  If  he  hath 
l)roken  he  will  bind  up.  He  saith,  "  Stand  not  back  for 
•the  enormity  of  your  sins.  Though  they  be  as  scarlet  and  red 
I'ke  crimson — never  mind — they  shall  be  as  snow  and  as 
wool !" 

On  what  ground,  and  on  what  security  may  such  sinners 
rest  ?  Simply  this  ;  that  "  where  sin  abounds  grace  much 
more  abounds."  By  virtue  of  that  atonement  held  up  to 
view  in  every  sacrifice  at  the  altar,  symbolizing  the  blood  of 
.an  infinite  Lamb  of  God,  full  provision  is  made  for  all  sin — 
absolutely  all — however  great  the  aggravation.  The  law 
stands  in  all  its  force,  "  the  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die." 
But  Jehovah  hath,  in  the  covenant  of  Redemption,  provided 
for  a  substitution  of  life  for  life.  The  blood  atones  because 
"  the  life  is  in  the  blood." 

And  not  only  is  provision  thus  made,  in  general,  but  Jeho- 
vah— to  assure  the  faith  of  poor  sinners  who,  seeing  their 
sins  in  all  their  aggravation,  begin  to  doubt,  whether  this 
■provision  may  be  efficacious  in  such  desperate  case  as  theirs 
— has  vouchsafed  to  bind  himself  to  pardon  and  justify  all 
who  rely  on  the  blood.  His  word  not  only,  but  his  bond  is 
given,  "  When  I  see  the  blood  I  will  pass  over,  and  the  curse 
shall  not  come  nigh  you  !" 

And,  in  addition  to  the  teachings  of  the  ritual  of  blood, 
stand  all  his  pledges,  not  only  to  take  away  the  sin  but  to 


THE  GROUNDS  OF  ASSURANCE  OF  PARDON.   205 

purify  and  renew  the  bad  heart.  For  so  he  teaches,  in  all 
the  ritual  of  the  sprinklings  and  washings  and  purifications  of 
the  temple  service. 

Such  was  the  gospel  of  pardon  as  Isaiah  would  state  it. 
It  Avas  all-sufficient  then,  for  the  assurance  of  those  whose 
sins  were  as  scarlet  and  crimson,  that  it  was  a  remedy  sure, 
effective  and  ever  ready  to  all  who  will  reason  with  Jehovah. 

You,  my  brethren,  have  still  clearer  assurance,  though  the 
remedy  remains  precisely  the  same.  You  have  the  additional 
assurance  that  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all 
sin."  "  He  came  to  save  sinners — even  the  chief."  You 
have  the  bond  of  the  New  Covenant,  pledging  him  ''  who 
bore  your  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree  "  to  "  save  all  that 
come  to  God  by  him."  If  you  will  reason — then  fear  not  to 
cast  yourself  upon  his  pledge  to  make  thft  scarlet  as  the  snow 
and  the  cnmsou  as  the  wool. 


SECTION  IV, 


REDEMPTIOX.  AS  TAUGHT  BY  JESUS,  THE  INCARNATE  WORD, 


DISCOURSE  X. 

THE   OFFICIAL   AUTHORITY,    NATURE,   LIMITS,   AND    PURPOSES 
OP    GOSPEL    PREACHING. 

Luke  iv.  16-21. — And  he  came  to  Nazareth,  where  he  had  been  brought 
up  ;  and,  as  his  custom  was,  he  went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
and  stood  up  for  to  read.  And  there  was  delivered  unto  him  the  book  of 
the  prophet  Esaias.  And  when  he  had  opened  the  book,  he  found  the  place 
where  it  was  written, 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  poor,  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to 
preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sigiit  to  the  blind; 
to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the 
Lord. 

And  ue  closed  the  book,  and  he  gave  it  again  to  the  minister,  and  sat 
down.  And  the  eyes  of  all  them  that  were  in  the  Synagogue  were  fastened 
on  him.  And  he  began  to  say  unto  them,  this  day  is  this  Scripture 
fulfilled  in  your  ears 

The  visible  Church  of  God  still  continued  to  have  its  centre 
in  the  land  of  promise,  and  in  the  city  of  David.  Its  creed 
was  nominally  still  the  covenant  of  grace  as  last  developed  in 
the  covenant  with  David.  Its  ordinances  were  still  the  old 
ritual  of  Sinai,  as  David  and  Solomon  had  adapted  that  ritual, 
to  the  settled  state  ;  and  both  creed  and  ritual  had  more  fully 
been  expounded  by  subsequent  prophets.  Prophecy  had 
ceased,  and  there  was  no  open  vision  for  four  hundred  and 
fifty  years.     Synagogues,  Ilabbis  and  Scribes  had  taken  l)ie 


208     NATURE    AND    LIMITS    OF    GOSPEL    PREACHING. 

place  of  the  schools  of  the  prophets.  Revolution  had  followed 
revolution  in  the  state,  and  chastisement  after  chastisement  to 
the  Church ;  till  now  only  a  few  fragments  of  the  typical 
kingdom,  just  sufficient  to  preserve  the  line  of  promise,  and 
these  ruled  by  a  foreign  tyrant,  remained  in  Canaan.  The 
rest  were  scattered  among  all  nations,  there  to  ''  prepare  the 
way  of  the  Lord."  The  typical  throne  of  David  had  been 
taken  away,  as  a  necessary  preparation  also  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  new  spiritual  kingdom,  soon  to  be  gathered  from 
all  nations. 

Among  the  people,  Rabbis,  Priests,  Scribes  and  Elders, 
generally,  prevailed  a  cold,  narrow,  unspiritual,  heartless, 
formalism,  which  while  outwardly  magnifying  the  creed  and 
the  ritual,  had  utterly  lost  sight  of  the  gospel  contained 
therein;  "  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men." 
For  a  century,  indeed,  a  general  expectation  prevailed, 
founded  upon  the  prophets,  of  some  great  change  about  to 
come.  The  unspiritual  conceived  of  it  as  a  political  revolution, 
and  a  literal  restoration  of  the  throne  of  David.  The  true  chil- 
dren of  God  waited  for  it,  as  the  consolation  of  Israel.  Especi- 
ally during  the  last  thirty  years  have  these  expectations  been 
more  certain  and  definite  among  the  true  believers,  since 
divine  communications  have  again  come  to  his  people  through 
Mary,  Elizabeth,  Zacharias,  Anna  and  Simeon,  announcing 
the  speedy  fulfilment  of  the  covenant  with  David. 

Such,  in  general  terms,  was  the  condition  of  the  Church  and 
the  typical  kingdom  when  first  John  the  Baptist,  and  then 
Jesus,  began  to  proclaim  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
And,  at  an  early  period  of  his  ministry  occurred  at  Nazareth 
the  exposition  of  the  divine  authority,  nature,  limits  and  pur- 
poses of  that  gospel  preaching,  which  is  now  to  take  the  place, 
both  of  the  visions  of  the  prophets  and  of  the  ancient  teaching 
by  symbols  and  ritual,  as  the  instrumentality  in  the  Church 
for  calling  sinners  and  edifying  saints.     It  was,  indeed,  in  an 


STATE  OF  GOSPEL  KINGDOM  WIIEX  CHRIST  CAME.   209 

obscure  place,  and  under  very  humble  circumstances,  that  an 
exposition  of  such  intrinsic  importance  and  dignity  was  given. 
But -what  place  or  circumstances  more  befitting  the  first  expo- 
iiition  of  the  ordinances  of  a  gospel  -whose  glory  it  was  that 
•■'  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them  ?  " 

It  is  in  an  obscure  village,  far  north  of  Jerusalem,  the  bye- 
v/ord  and  scoff  of  its  own  province  of  Gallilee  ;  which  province 
itself  was  the  scorn  and  scoif  of  the  refined  metropohtans  of 
Jerusalem.  For  the  sake  of  its  very  obscurity  it  had  been 
selected  by  the  parents  of  Jesus,  in  his  infancy,  as  a  hiding 
place  from  the  cruelties  of  the  Herods.  There  had  he  grown 
up  as  the  son  of  Joseph  the  carpenter,  surrounded  by  poverty 
and  ignorance  ;  and  thence  had  he  departed  unnoticed  al)out 
the  opening  of  the  ministry  of  John  Baptist. 

But  strange  news  has  lately  come  to  this  little  village. 
Humour  hath  it,  that  this  son  of  Joseph  the  carpenter  has 
suddenly  become  a  great  man — great  enough  to  have  attracted 
ilie  notice  of  the  great  people  in  the  capital  city,  Capernaum. 
Kay  more,  that,  travelling  from  place  to  place  as  a  Rabbi,  he 
is  eclipsing  the  fame  of  John  Baptist  himself.  And  now,  that 
the  much  talked  of  Rabbi  has  at  length  actually  come  to 
Nazareth,  crowds  gather  to  the  synagogue  ;  and  with  eager 
cxpoctation  are  they  waiting  till  the  presiding  elder,  rising 
from  his  high  seat,  shall  hand  the  book  to  the  son  of  Joseph, 
in\dting  him  to  read  and  expound  the  word.  "  What  place 
will  he  select  ?  WhaT  curious  things  will  he  say  ?  We  will 
see  now  what  this  thing  is  that  has  so  fascinated  the  great 
Capernaum  people." 

He  bejiins  to  unroll  the  volume — It  is  the  book  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah.  Nor  does  he  unroll  far  from  the  end  of  the 
book  till  he  finds  the  place  ;  it  is  the  sixty-first  chapter, 
among  the  last  of  his  sublime  predictions  of  the  future  glory 
and  the  new  order  of  things  in  the  Church  when  "  the 
Redeemer  shall  come  to  Zion."  He  reads — "  The  Spirit  of  the 

o 


210   NATURE   AND   LIMITS    OF    GOSPEL    PREACHING.     , 

Lord  is  upon  mc,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  poor  :  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted, 
to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight 
to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."     All  eyes  are   rivetted 
upon  him  as  he  sits  down  to  begin  his  discourse  on  such  a 
theme.     And  the  curiosity  becomes  the  more  eager  at  his  first 
sentence — ''  This  day  is  this  scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears." 
But  soon  mere  curiosity  merges  into  wonder  at  the  gracious 
words,  as  he  proceeds  to  develop  the  infinite  meaning  of  the 
glad  message  of  the  text,  and  to  demonstrate  how  he  himself 
is  the  actual  of  the  prophet's  great  ideal.     !How  the  typical 
Idngdom  of  David,  for  whose  restoration  they  were  longing,  is 
now  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  great  antitype — the  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth.     And  how^,  now,  the  prophets  of  the  Church  shall 
go  forth  to  preach  this  gospel.     New  views  of  truth  begin  to 
burst  upon  them  as  he  expounds  the  covenant  of  grace ;  new 
hopes  of  mercy  as  he  dilates  upon  the  love  and  compassion  of 
God :  new  convictions  of  sin,  as  he  dwells  upon  the  sorrows, 
the  blindness,  the  slavery  of  sin  ;  new  courage,  as  be  expounds 
the  promise  of  the  Spirit,  to  release  from  the  captivity  to  the 
law  of  sin  in  the  members  ;  new  fountains  of  emotion  open  in 
their  hearts,  as  he  applies  the  Balm  of  Gilead ;   new  pur- 
poses and  resolves,  as  he  closes  by  proclaming,  "  This  is  the 
accepted  time  " — wait   no  longer — -just  here,  just   now — 
'•-^ome  take  the  waters  of  life  freely." 

Brethren,  "  this  day  is  this  scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears  " 
also :  and  so  it  is  every  day  that  you  hear  the  gospel  preached. 
These  are  the  words  of  "  Jesus  Christ,  the  same,  yesterday, 
to-day  and  forever."  And,  in  these  words,  he  sets  forth  to 
us  the  significancy  of  these  gospel  ordinances,  which  he  hath 
appointed  under  the  new  covenant,  as  our  means  of  grace,  in 
place  of  the  ordinances  of  symbols  and  types  and  ritual  which 
had  been  the  means  of  grace  to  his  people  under  the  old 


THE    SPIRIT    IS    UPOX    THE    TRUE    PREACHER.     2  LI 

covenants.  AVc  do  well,  tliorofore,  to  nnalvzc  carefully  this 
prophetic  statement,  thus  expounded  and  applied  bj  Jesus 
himself,  the  minister  of  the  sanctuary ;  and  whose  personal 
ministry  is  the  type  of  that  gospel  ministry  which  he  estab 
lished  for  the  New  Testament  Church.  For  this  statement 
will  be  found  exhaustive,  covering  all  the  fundamental  points, 
of  the  Divine  qualifications  and  appointment  of  the  office  ; 
its  purpose  and  functions ;  the  manner  of  discharging  them  ; 
and  the  end  to  be  had  in  view  in  preaching  the  gospel. 

I.  The  primary  qualification  for  the  office  is,  "  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is  upon  one.''''  So  was  it  said,  in  the  ancient  Church, 
not  only  of  the  inspired  men  "  who  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  but  of  any  man  stirred  up  to  any  work 
by  Jehovah.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was  upon  leaders  such  as 
Gideon  and  Jephthah,  and  Sampson  and  Saul,  impelling  them 
to  execute  a  mission  for  Jehovah,  even  though  in  some  cases 
they  gave  little  evidence  of  the  Spirit's  w^ork  of  grace  upon 
the  heart.  It  is  so  still  with  the  men  who  have  this  mission 
of  Jehovah  to  preach  and  rule  in  the  Church.  This  work  is 
not  therefore,  one  that  every  man,  even  with  learning  sufficient, 
should  feel  that  he  is  called  upon  to  assume,  unless  he  has  some 
other  special  call  to  the  profession.  If  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  upon  him  to  this  end  he  will  find  something  positive  in  his 
experience.  He  will  feel  the  pressure  of  the  Apostle — '•  Wo  is 
me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel." 

The  error  of  our  times  and  country,  howv^ver,  is  not  so 
much  with  reference  to  the  original  call  and  qualification  for 
the  ministry,  as  in  regard  to  the  continuance  of  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord,  guiding  and  directing  tiie  true  gospel  preacher  in 
his  work.  There  seems  to  be  prevalent  a  sort  of  Sadduceeism, 
whose  conceptions  fall  far  below  the  true  extent  of  the  Spirit's 
work.  It  is  not  all  the  truth,  by  any  means,  that  the  Spirit 
calls  him  to  the  work,  and  then  leaves  him  to  the  best  exercise 
of  his  reasoning  powers,  eloquence  and  learning  in  the  dis- 


212    NATURE   AND    LIMITS   OF    GOSPEL   PREACHING. 

charge  of  it.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  continues  upon  him, 
guiding  his  choice  of  what  to  saj  ;  for  every  true  speech  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  officially,  is  prompted  by  the  Spirit, 
and  accompanied  by  him  on  its  errand  to  fashion  the  vessels 
of  glory,  or  the  "  vessels  of  Avrath  fitted  to  destruction."  The 
relation  of  the  preacher  of  the  New  Testament  is  very  close 
to  the  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament  whom  he  succeeded. 
He  has  now,  indeed,  no  further  new  communication  to  make 
from  Jehovah,  for  the  revelation  is  complete.  Yet,  though 
he  look  not  to  a  vision  of  the  night,  nor  listen  for  a  voice 
from  tlie  unseen  to  syllable  the  words  of  Jehovah,  he  must 
reverently  come  to  the  oracle  of  Jehovah — his  completed 
revelation — inquiring  "  What  will  Jehovah  say  unto  this 
people?"  And,  getting  his  message  he  goes  forth  to  pro- 
claim "  thus  saith  Jehovah."  Nothing  is  plainer  in  scripture 
than  that  the  true  gospel  preacher  has  the  presence  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ  upon  him,  in  every  official  utterance.  For 
saith  Jesus,  "  Go  preach,  Lo  I  am  with  you  alway."  The 
Holy  Spirit  comes  ''  to  take  the  things  of  Christ  and  shew 
them  unto  him,"  that  he  may  shew  them  unto  the  people. 

II.  Qualified  thus, by  the  Spirit  upon  him,  he  is  also  specially 
"  anointed,"  that  is,  commissioned,  as  for  an  official  work — 
''  to  preach."  Nor  is  there,  perhaps,  any  truth  of  our  holy 
religion  which  needs  more  to  be  impressed  upon  the  minds  of 
the  people,  and  to  be  brought  out  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
Church,  at  this  day.  It  is  to  be  feared  that,  in  the  reaction 
from  the  general  disgust  of  mankind  with  the  arrogant  claims 
of  ghostly  authority  by  a  corrupt  priesthood,  Protestants  are 
tending  to  the  other  extreme  of  ignoring  the  true  divine 
authority  of  the  gospel  ministry.  Because  an  unspiritual  and 
formalistic  priesthood — palpably  without  the  divine  qualifica- 
tion of  the  "  Spirit  of  the  Lord  upon  them," — have  yet  been 
punctilious  to  the  highest  degree  sin  claiming  the  divine  official 
commission,  and  themselves  as  the  only  authorized  ministry, 


WHAT    '^  rREACHINrx  THE    GOSPEL  "    MEANS.       213 

men  have  learned  to  scoff  at  every  form  of  claim  to  speak 
with  the  authority  of  a  divine  commission,  and  to  conceive  of 
the  Protestant  minister  as  simply  one  of  the  brethren  chosen 
to  teach,  and  to  care  for  that  which  the  masses  have  not  time 
to  care  for.  Even  many  pious  and  earnest  people,  in  this  day 
of  Christian  activity,  seem  to  conceive  of  the  gospel  ministry 
as  merely  another  form  of  those  agencies  for  doing  good,  com- 
mon to  all  Christian  men  an-l  women,  such  as  the  teaching 
in  the  Sabbath  school,  the  conference  and  social  meeting, 
the  conversation  of  the  colporteur,  &c. 

True,  in  a  very  important  sense,  every  Christian  is  a  propa- 
gandist singing  ever  "  0  that  all  would  believe  ;"  for  it  is  of 
the  essential  nature  of  the  new  life  that  it  makes  '•  him  that 
heareth  say,  come."  True,  every  agency  for  gathering  in 
sinners,  and  for  Christian  nurture  is,  in  its  place,  all  important. 
But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  over  and  above  all  these, 
"the  Lord  hath  anointed"  a  ministry,  commissioned,  not  only 
as  chief  of  all  these  agencies,  but  officially  to  speak  for  God  to 
men  in  the  word ;  to  speak  for  men  to  God  in  prayer ;  to 
stand  as  Christ's  attorney  in  the  sacraments  presenting  the 
covenant  and  receiving  the  signature  and  seal  of  his  people 
to  it.  Not  only  is  this  public  official  utterance  of  the  minister 
different  in  kind  from  the  similar  utterance  in  the  family,  and 
in  the  private  gatherings  of  Christians  ''  speaking  often  one 
with  another ;"  but  it  differs  also  from  his  own  private  utter- 
ances, as  the  utterance  of  the  judge  on  the  street  differs  from 
that  of  the  judge  on  the  bench.  This  will  appear  further  as 
we  proceed  to  consider, 

III. — The  function  and  purpose  of  his  office.  It  is  "  to 
lireach  the  gospel.''^  And,  by  virtue  of  the  special  anointing, 
this  preaching  differs,  in  kind,  from  all  merely  human  forms 
of  thought  and  teaching,  however  it  may  resemble  them.  To 
preach  maybe  eloquent  utterance, but  that  is  not  all, nor  the 
essential  part  of  it.     To  preach,  may  l)e  profound  reasoning  • 


214    NATURE    AND   LIMITS   OF   GOSPEL   PREACHING. 

but  that  is  not  all,  nor  the  essential  part  of  it.  To  preach,  is 
to  teach,  but  that  is  not  all  of  it,  though  the  primary  end  of 
it.  To  preach,  is  to  expound  a  book ;  yet  not,  as  in  the 
schools,  the  book  of  a  Plato  who  spoke,  but  of  a  Jesus  who 
speaks.  It  is  to  enforce  an  ethics  ;  yet  not,  as  in  the  school 
of  a  Socrates  who  moralized,  but  of  a  Jesus  who  is  purifying 
the  heart  by  faith.  It  is  to  develop  a  great  system  of  thought 
concerning  God  and  humanity  ;  yet  not  as  received  merely 
from  "holy  men  of  old  who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  but  as  revealed  now  by  Jesus  to  the  souls  of 
his  people. 

Preaching,  then,  is  that  peculiar  official  utterance,  of  one 
divinely  commissioned  to  speak  in  Christ's  name.  Saith  the 
Apostle,  "  We  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  tliough  God 
did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you,  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God."  It  is  authoritatively  setting  forth  the 
divine  terms  of  reconciliation.  Just  as  his  Master  and  the 
Great  Type  of  his  ministry,  so  the  preacher  "  speaks  as  one 
having  authority  and  not  as  the  scribes." 

But  some  one  is  now  ready  to  ask — ''  Is  "not  this  re-assert- 
ing the  old  priestly  assumption,  by  divine  right  to  dominate 
over  the  conscience  ?  And  will  not  this  carry  us  back  to  the 
priestcrafts  and  tyrannies  of  ghostly  authority  ?"  I  answer, 
candidly,  so  it  will ;  unless  he  who  claims  this  authority  is 
carefully  restricted  within  the  sphere  of  his  commission.  If 
he  is  allowed  to  claim  and  exercise  such  power  as  inherent 
in  him  personally,  by  virtue  of  some  indelible  grace  of  holy 
orders,  and  not  because  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  him  to 
this  end ;  if  he  is  allowed  to  transcend  the  limits  of  his 
commission,  and,  deliver  authoritative  opinions  on  any  other 
questions  than  of  the  reconciliation  to  God  through  Christ ; 
if  the  people  make  him  their  infallible  judge  in  cases  of 
dividing  the  inheritance,  or  their  guide  in  determining  to 
which  Caesar  they  owe  allegiance  ;  that  is  the  peoples'  affair, 


MEANS.       215 

not  the  gospel's.  The  guarantee  against  priestly  domination 
lies  not  in  denying  the  divine  authority  of  the  ministry,  and 
thereby  denying  any  true  gospel  preacher.  It  lies  in  the 
careful  restriction  of  his  authority  within  the  limits  set  to  it 
in  his  divine  commission.  For,  you  will  observe,  in  the  next 
place,  that  the  commission  here  confines  him  to  a  very  special 
and  narrowly  limited  sphere.  "  The  Lord  hath  anointed  me 
to  preach  the  GospeV  In  this  office  he  is  to  "know  nothing 
but  Christ  Jesus  and  him  crucified."  His  sole  business, 
officially,  is  to  proclaim,  "  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief;"  and  to  expound  and 
enforce  the  terms  of  reconciliation.  As  the  discourse  of  the 
ambassador,  outside  of  his  special  official  sphere — of  politics, 
finances,  morals,  literature, — is  not  to  be  taken  as  of  any  higher 
authority  than  the  opinions  of  any  other  man  equally  intelli- 
gent ;  so  when  the  ambassador  of  Christ  discourses,  outside 
of  his  commission,  concerning  science,  physics,  metaphysics, 
politics,  ethics,  national  affairs,  civil  and  military,  his  discourse 
is  of  no  higher  authority  than  that  of  any  other  man,  equally 
intelligent.  Nay,  his  opinions  are  of  even  less  value  than 
other  men's,  since  he  can  know  little  of  these  matters,  if  true  to 
his  Master's  work.  And  if  he  undertake,  officially,  to  speak  of 
such  things  when  he  stands  forth  to  speak  in  the  name  of 
Christ  he  is  simply  an  impostor,  seeking  to  gain  currency  and 
confidence  for  his  opinions  under  false  pretences.  And  if 
the  people  submit  to  the  imposition,  quietly,  the  result  will 
soon  show  itself  in  a  ministry  ^\ith  no  Spirit  of  the  Lord  upon 
it,  and  a  Church  witli  no  Spirit  of  the  Lord  in  it.  And  though 
without  the  Popish  form  of  it,  yet,  in  reality  and  in  substance, 
there  will  be  priestcraft  as  artful,  ruling  over  as  thoroughly 
a  priest-ridden  people,  as  ever  disgraced  the  great  Roman 
apostasy. 

The  Gospel  is  that  for  the  propagation  of  which  the  Church 
has  been  constituted  a  spiritual  commonwealth,  Avith  its  offices 


216    NATURE    AND    LIMITS    OF    GOSPEL    PKEACillNG. 

to  bear  rule  and  to  preach.  By.  divine  authority,  in  like 
manner,  the  secular  interests  of  the  world,  as  the  great 
theatre  of  the  gospel's  operations  in  gathering  God's  elect, 
have  been  committed  to  Ciusar.  And  never  are  these  powers 
confounded  that  the  confusion  is  not  rebuked  by  leavhig  the 
Church,  on  the  one  hand,  to  spiritual  death,  and  the  state  to 
the  decay  of  liberty  on  the  other.  But  when,  in  the  true 
spirit  of  the  divine  commission,  the  Church,  Avith  a  single  eye 
to  her  divine  charter  and  mission,  and  her  ministry,  under 
a  deep  sense  of  their  official  responsibility,  ''  preach  the 
gospel,"  then  the  work  of  Christ  goes  forward,  conquering 
and  to  conquer,  whether  the  Avorld-powers  frown  or  smile.* 

IV.  Not  only  is  the  preacher's  office  of  divine  appointment, 
but  also  the  method  and  manner  of  discharging  the  functions 
thereof.  ''  To  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor.''''  It  is  this 
feature  that  distinguishes  the  system  of  instruction  appointed 
in  the  gospel  from  all  those  humanly-devised  schemes  for  the 
instruction  and  elevation  of  mankind  which  have  made  illus- 
trious the  world's  benefactors.  Though  its  subject  matter  is 
the  profoundest  that  can  occupy  the  human  mind ;  though 
all  other  knowledge  is  but  ancillary  to  this  knowledge  ; 
though  its  truths,  at  all  points,  expand  from  the  finite  to  the 
infinite  ;  it  yet  cites  as  the  evidence  of  its  divine  origin,  that 
"  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  unto  them."  The 
originators  and  expounders  of  all  other  systems  of  thought 
seek  out  only  the  more  gifted,  the  intelligent  and  the  refined, 
to  be  made  trophies  of  their  skill  in  the  work  of  enlighten- 
ment. But  Jesus  Christ  comes  proclaiming  himself  "  able 
10  save  to  the  uttermost" — even  to  the  uttermost  extent  of 
degradation  and  ignorance.  Nay,  while  his  system  excludes 
none — high  or  low — he  rejoices,  saying,  "  I  thank  thee,  0 
father,  that  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and 
prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes." 

The  meaning  of  all  this  is,  that  the  method  of  preaching 

•  u~».c  Aii[)eiiaix,  Noie  D. 


WHAT  rKEAClIIXG  THE  GOSPEL  TO  THE  POOR  MEAXS.  217 

the  gospel  must  be  adapted  to  the  liumble  in  spirit,  and  to 
the  capacity  of  the  uneducated  ;  making  the  instruction  of 
the  -wise  and  prudent  incidental,  rather  than  primary.  It 
proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that,  "  Not  many  \visc,  not 
many  noble,  not  many  mighty  are  called."  There  arc, 
indeed,  some  such  called ;  for  Christ  excludes  none.  But 
when  called,  it  is  incidentally,  by  means  tliat  are  adapted  to 
the  capacity  of  the  masses,  rather  than  by  any  excellency  of 
speech  and  words  of  man's  wisdom,  specially  appointed  for 
the  conversion  of  the  wise,  the  noble  and  the  mighty.  And 
it  is  the  grand  peculiarity  of  the  gospel  faith  that  is  unto 
salvation,  that  it  is  precisely  the  same  faith  whether  as  exist- 
ing in  the  heart  of  the  poor  unlettered  peasant,  or  of  the 
mighty  man  of  science.  Its  great  truths  are  equally  adapted 
to  suit  the  humble  powers  of  thought  and  limited  capacity  of 
the  one,  and  to  exercise,  to  their  uttermost,  the  loftiest  intellec- 
tual powers  of  the  other,  and  fill  to  their  fullest  the  largest 
capacities.  The  gospel  adapted  to  the  poor  is  equally  adapted 
to  the  great ;  w^hile  the  gospel  that  aims  only  to  meet  the 
capacity  of  the  wise  and  great  is  ada[)ted  to  the  spiritual 
wants  of  neither.  Its  message  is  to  '•  the  poor  in  spirit,"  to 
"  the  meek  and  lowly  in  heart;"  to  •'  the  weary  and  heavy 
laden."  And  while  its  truths  transcend  the  reach  of  the 
loftiest  gifts  ever  bestowed  upon  the  natural  understanding, 
and  its  stupendous  problems  have  a  length  and  breadth  and 
depth  that  transcends  the  compass  of  human  reasoning,  yet 
they  find  an  interpreter,  in  the  bosom  alike  of  the  peasant  and 
the  philosopher,  which  expounds  them  to  the  apprehension  of 
a  soul  conscious  of  sin  and  desirous  of  salvation.  This  gospel 
comes  as  a  bread  of  life  to  the  hungry  soul,  and  as  a  water 
of  life  to  the  thirsty  soul.  It  is,  therefore,  no  more  a  marvel 
that  the  poor  and  unlearned,  alike  with  the  great  and  learned, 
should  understand  and  use  it,  than  that  the  poor  and  un- 
learned with  little  knowledge  of  the  chemistries  of  philosophers 


218     NATURE    AND    LDIITS    OF    GOSPEL    PEEACEING. 

should,  yet,  as  readily  as  the  philosophers,  understand  how  to 
appease  their  physical  hunger  with  bread,  and  quench  their 
physical  thirst  with  water. 

While,  therefore,  the  schools  send  forth  their  disciples  with 
the  command—"  Go  forth,  apply  the  powers  we  have  disci- 
plined and  the  knowledge  we  have  imparted  in  extending  the 
domain  of  thought,  and  in  elevating  the  standard  of  learning. 
Seek  to  be  illustrious,  as  scholars  and  philosophers,  and 
worthy  the  plaudits  of  the  wise  and  intelhgent  of  your  race," 
Jesus  Christ  sends  forth  his  disciples,  saying — "  Go,  with  the 
Spirit  cf  the  Lord  upon  you,  — sanctifying  all  your  gifts  and 
attainments, — and  '  preach.'  Preach, — not  learning,  philoso- 
phy, ethics,  political  economy — but  '  the  gospel.'  And 
fashion  your  gospel,  not  to  the  gesthetics  of  the  refined,  with 
stilted  rhetorical  step ;  not  to  the  whimsical  demands  of  the 
caviller  Avith  learned  air ;  not  to  the  exactions  of  the  scien- 
tific sceptic  with  profound  philosophic  phrase.  Aim  at  the 
capacities  of  the  masses  ;  the  poor  in  spirit,  poor  in  learning, 
poor  in  taste  ;  and,  whatever  the  schools  may  think,  the 
gospel  from  your  mouth,  '  made  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation '  shall  certify  your  skill  '  as  workmen  that  need 
not  be  ashamed.'  The  two  grand  requisites,  therefore,  of 
the  preacher's  office  are  :  First,  that  he  preach  the  gospel — 
nothing  else ;  second,  a  gospel  addressed  to  the  capacity  of 
the  masses  of  the  people.  The  force  of  all  this  will  appear 
more  clearly  as  we  proceed,  next,  to  consider  : — 

V.  The  prophetic  catalogue  of  the  purposes  and  ends  of  this 
gospel  preaching.  For  this  catalogue  will  be  found  to  embrace 
the  entire  purposes  of  this  office,  and  all  thci  the  soul  needs 
a  gospel  for. 

First,  the  gospel  comes  "  to  heal  the  broken-hearted." 
It  assumes  that  it  comes  into  a  world  full  of  sorrow  ;  where 
"  man  is  made  to  mourn."  That  as  "  sin  has  entered,"  pro- 
jecting its  dark  shadow ;  "  so  death,"  including  all  forms  of 


THE    GOSPEL    TO    THE    BROKEX    HEARTED.        l^TJ 

sorrow,  "  by  sin."  Physical  suffering  with  its  sorrows  ;  for 
the  death  begins  to  work  from  man's  birtli,  in  aches  and  pains 
and  sicknesses.  INIental  suffering  ;  for  the  death  worketli  dark- 
ness of  the  understanding,  pronencss  to  error,  dulncss  of 
perception,  and  all  the  weariness  of  mind  that  flows  from 
them.  Sorrow  of  heart ;  for  the  deatli  worketh  all  manner 
of  loss  of  friendship,  loss  of  confidence,  loss  of  affection,  loss 
of  friends,  near  and  dear,  with  all  the  agonies  of  bereavement 
and  of  sympathy  with  suffering.  But,  worse  than  all,  sorrow 
for  sin  ;  growing  out  of  the  consciousness  that  all  these  other 
sorrows  come  from  the  estrangement  of  the  soul  from  God ; 
and  are  but  types  of  that  eternal  sorrow  which  shall  follow  as 
the  just  penalty  of  sin,  still  conceiving  and  bringing  forth  death. 
And  even  when  faith  "  hath  laid  hold  of  the  hope  set  before 
us  in  the  gospel,"  this  sorrow  continues  to  be  the  portion  of 
God's  children  in  such  a  world.  The  temptations  too  strong 
for  us,  and  the  sins  that  do  easily  beset  us  continually  break 
the  grasp  of  faith  on  that  hope.  The  tears  of  sorrow  ever 
dim  the  eye  of  faith.  Now  it  is  the  distinguishing  glory  of 
this  gospel  preaching  that  it  has  the  balm  of  Gilead  to  apply 
to  these  broken  hearts.  It  comes  to  those  mourning,  as  they 
look  upon  him  that  their  sins  have  pierced,  to  assure  them, 
that  the  blood  from  the  pierced  side  "  cleanseth  from  all 
sin;"  for  he  hath  made  propitiation  for  our  sins  with  his  own 
blood.  It  comes  to  comfort  the  people  of  God  in  their  afflic- 
tions with  the  assurance  that  the  afflictions  come  neither  by 
chance,  nor  because  he  is  angry  with  them ;  but  because  ho 
sees  it  best  for  them  ;  and  "  the  light  affliction  that  endureth 
for  a  moment  shall  work  out  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
Aveight  of  glory."  It  comes  to  assure  the  hearts  broken  by 
bereavement  that  these  strokes  are  not  in  anger ;  *'  for  whom 
the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth."  That  they  sorrow  not  as 
those  without  hope,  for  "  they  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God 
bring  with  him."     Not  a  sorrow — that  is  a  godly  sorrow  and 


"220    NATURE    AXD    LDIITS    OF    GOSPEL    PREACHING. 

•not  the  mere  sorrow  of  the  world  that  worketh  death, — but 
this  gospel  has  its  balm  for  the  wound.  0,  it  is  not  the 
applause  of  the  thoughtless  and  light-hearted  world  that  is 
music  to  the  ear  of  the  true  gospel  preacher ;  but  the  glow- 
ing heart  utterances  of  some  poor  broken-hearted  sinner 
pointed  by  him  first  to  Christ ;  of  some  child  of  God,  despond- 
ing and  broken-hearted  with  the  troubles  that  have  made  the 
world  all  darkness,  and  even  shut  oat  the  light  of  God's  smile 
from  the  soul — from  whose  spirit  he  hath  chased  away  the 
darkness  ;  of  some  broken-hearted  father  or  mother  or  house- 
hold, whom  he  has  found  refusing  to  be  comforted  because 
death  has  come  and  the  loved  ones  are  not,  and  has  enabled 
.them  to  say,  ''  The  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away, 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord."  To  the  preacher  whose 
heart  has  listened  to  the  music  of  their  orrateful  blessin<2;s 
on  him,  all  the  adulation  of  the  frivolous  multitude — all  the 
applause  of  literary  and  rhetorical  critics,  is  as  the  sound  of 
empty  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal.  The  giddy,  the  thought- 
less, the  hardened  in  sin,  the  unstricken  souls,  need  not  be 
surprised  that  the  gospel  preaching  has  no  fascinations  for 
them.  Its  aim  chiefly  is  at  the  wants  of  earnest  souls,  broken- 
hearted for  sin,  or  by  the  consequences  of  sin. 

Second,  the  purpose  of  the  gospel  is  to  preach  "  delwer- 
ance  to  the  captives.^''  For  it  assumes  that  men  must 
perceive  the  sin  and  sorrow  to  be  not  merely  their  misfor- 
tune but  their  fault, — that  they  are  lying  under  sentence  as 
"condemned  already"  and  awaiting  execution. — No  man 
can  reason  intelligently  concerning  his  present  condition  and 
relation  toward  God  without  the  conviction  that  he  is  in  a 
state  of  condemnation, — that  his  present  estate  is  that  of  a 
condemned  criminal  in  prison,  awaiting  the  full  infliction  of 
the  just  penalty  of  sin.  Hence  the  inquiry  is  forced  upon 
such  an  one — Is  there  no  way  in  which,  consistently  with 
justice  and  right,  this  penalty  may  be  removed  ?     Hence  all 


IIOAY    THE    GOSPEL    liELlEVES    THE    CAPTIVE.      221 

the  religions  which  men  have  devised — however  varied  in. 
degree  of  intclHgence,  refinement  and  purity — are  rehgions- 
of  dread — of  Lloodj  sacrifices  and  rites — of  priests  atoning 
at  altars.  All  seem,  more  or  less  clearly,  to  recognize  this- 
conviction  in  the  human  soid  of  a  penalty  for  sin,  a  guilt  to 
be  removed  .by  atonement.  Now  the  gospel  comes  to  satisfy 
this  inquiry  "  How  can  a  man  be  just  with  God  ?"  by 
showing  how  Christ  crucified  may  righteously  be  accepted  of 
God  in  place  of  the  sinner's  eternal  crucifixion ;  and  how 
"  the  Lamb  of  God  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  w^orld." 
Not  merely  procures  the  pardon  of  it,  in  the  sense  that  God, 
though  still  offended,  agrees  to  waive  the  execution  of  the 
penalty  :  but  "  iaketli  away  the  sin,  so  that  it  shall  be 
blotted  out  and  remembered  no  more.  Nay  more,  that  the 
sinner  may  stand  before  God  as  righteous,  being  arrayed  in. 
the  righteousness  of  his  substitute.  For  Christ,  the  Sinless 
One,  hath  borne  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,"  and 
is  become  "  the  Lord  our  righteousness."  Such  a  gospel 
meets  fully — and  such  a  gospel  only  can  meet  fully — the 
demands  of  a  sinner's  own  convictions  of  the  just  and  neces- 
sary deserts  of  sin,  under  the  perfect  administration  of  a 
righteous  God.  Meeting  those  demands  it  brings  the  captive 
soul  out  of  the  condemned  cell  singing,  "  There  is  therefore 
now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus  ? 
Being  justified  by  faith  we  have  peace  with  God." 

A  ildrd  purpose  of  this  gospel  preaching,  and  indeed  a 
necessary  preliminary  to  the  foregoing,  is  "  the  recovering  of 
sight  lo  the  llindy  For  it  is  one  of  the  effects  of  the  death, 
that  has  caused  the  sorrow  of  the  race,  that  it  has  also 
caused  total  blindness  of  the  spiritual  vision.  The  gospel, 
therefore,  assumes  that,  wdiatever  variety  of  intelligence  may 
be  found  among  the  children  of  men,  whether  by  reason  of 
original  endowments  or  by  attainments,  yet  all  are  alike  in 
darkness  and  in  ignorance  of  any  true  soul  knowledge,  or  of 


^22   NATURE    AND    LIMITS    OF    GOSPEL    PREACHING. 

anj  consciousness  of  the  truth  that  is  unto  salvation.  A 
Saviour  Avho  meets  the  case,  therefore,  must  be  not  only  an 
.atoning  priest,  but  also  an  enlightening  prophet,  as  well. 
Hence  the  gospel  comes  pointing  the  soul  to  his  wonderful 
instructions  of  what  man  is  to  believe  concerning  God,  and 
what  duty  God  requires  of  man.  To  this  end  he  became 
himself  a  preacher  of  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom.  To  this 
end  he  sends  his  Holy  Spirit  to  reveal  his  truth  unto  babes. 
■"  No  man  knoweth  the  Father  save  he  to  whom  the  Son  shall 
reveal  him."  All  that  natural  religion  can  gather  out  oi 
his  works  concerning  God,  is  of  little  avail  to  instruct  a 
blind  and  guilty  soul.  But  the  true  gospel  preached  to  him, 
with  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  upon  it,"  shall  cause  the  light 
to  shine  into  the  heart,  as  flashed  the  light  upon  the  murky 
■chaos,  when  the  "  spirit  brooded  upon  the  waters,  and  God 
said,  let  light  be  !" 

S.  fourth  purpose  of  the  gospel  preaching, — which  at  once 
places  it  beyond  all  comparison  with  any  merely  human 
teaching — is  "  to  set  at  liberty  tliem  that  are  bruised.^^ 
Without  the  holding  forth  to  a  sinner  the  Kingly  office  of 
his  Saviour,  and  his  power  to  deliver  from  the  galling  slavery 
of  sin,  the  salvation  would  be  incomplete.  For  of  what  avail 
to  him  to  be  enlightened  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and 
even  to  be  pardoned  for  all  the  past,  if  left  in  his  conscious 
impotency  to  struggle  with  the  inherent  sinfulness  of  his  heart 
kept  in  active  eruption  by  the  temptations  of  a  sinful  world 
without  ?  Of  what  avail  to  let  the  light  break  in  by  opening 
his  cell,  and  to  proclaim  the  pardon /or  a  reason^  and  reprieve 
from  the  sentence,  if  the  pardoned  criminal  shall  be  left  lying 
there  helj)less  with  the  shackles  upon  him  still  galling  him  1 
But  it  is  the  glory  of  the  gospel  to  be  not  only  a  pardon  and 
a  light  but  ^^0^  power ^  "  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation." 
It  not  only,  as  the  ethical  schools,  points  to  the  way  of  virtue 
and  happiness  saying,  ''  this  is  tho   way,  walk  ye  in  it," 


THE   ACCEPTED   TIME    IS    ALWAYS    NOW.         223 

but  it  saith,  "rise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk"  to  the 
helpless  cripple,  or  "stretch  forth  thj  hand"  to  tlio  man 
of  the  withered  hand,  with  the  word  of  command  imparting 
a  divine  power,  that  restores  his  spiritual  strength  to  the 
poor  cripple,  and  sends  him  on  his  way  "  leaping  and  glorify- 
ing God."  To  him  conscious  of  his  impotency  its  glorious 
assurance  is  "my  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."  Thus  every 
phase  of  the  sinner's  condition  is  provided  for ;  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing,  is  left  undone,  that  ho  needs. 

And  hence  the  ffth  and  last  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
gospel  preaching.  That,  wherever  its  voice  comes  present- 
ing its  scheme,  just  then,  and  just  there  can  it  ''proclaim 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.^''  For  it  can  say  just  here, 
"  and  this  day,  is  this  scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears."  These 
blessings  of  grace  which  the  gospel  preacher  proclaims  arc 
not  a  beautiful  theory  which  men  may  sometime  hereafter  test 
by  application  of  its  principles ;  not  something  involving  a 
long  discipline  and  preparation.  It  is  a  present  offer.  Now 
is  its  accepted  time  :  noio  is  always  its  day  of  salvation.  It 
is  intended  to  be  applied  on  the  spot.  There  is  no  need  of 
waiting,  for  all  things  are  ready.  Jesus  Christ  is  present 
here  and  now,  in  this  preaching,  to  verify  its  truths  and 
fulfil  all  its  pledges.  You  wait  not  to  get  rid  of  the  sin,  but 
come  to  him  to  take  away  the  sin  !  You  w^ait  not  to  provide 
a  fit  dress — purity  of  character  enough  to  stand  before  God 
— but  come  to  him  and  receive  the  wedding  garment — even 
his  righteousness.  You  wait  not  till  you  have  more  light ; 
but  come  to  him  to  give  you  light.  You  wait  not  to  test 
whether  you  have  moral  power  to  keep  your  resolutions  and 
vows  ;  but  come  to  him,  and  implicitly  trust  him  for  the  power 
and  all  the  grace  to  enable  you  to  live  in  new^ness  of  life. 
Nay,  you  wait  not  for  more  faith  or  stronger  faith  ;  but  come 
just  as  you  are  with  all  your  darkness  and  doubts,  crying 
"  Lord  I  believe,  help  thou  my  unbelief."     There  is  nothing 


224    NATURE    AND    LIMITS   OF    GOSPEL   PREACHING. 

to  bo  waited  for,  but  every  thing  to  impel  you  to  seize  upor 
the  offer  Avhile  it  is  the  acceptable  ^^ear  of  the  Lord.  Nc 
gospel  preacher  can  ever  state  the  case  and  then  leave  you 
to  decide  to-morrow.  To-day  is  the  day  of  grace !  To-mor- 
row may  be  the  day  of  doom  !  To-day,  as  you  come,  Avith  youi 
sorrow  and  darkness  and  weakness,  he  can  confidently  assure 
you,  because,  he  can  point  you  to  the  Lamb  on  Calvary  aton- 
ing for  you — "  Able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come.'' 
To-morrow  he  may  have  become  to  you  "  the  Lamb  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne,"  before  whom  the  universe  trembles  with  terror ! 

Such,  brethren,  is  this  great  inaugural  discourse  of  Jesus 
at  the  institution  of  his  new  order  of  ministry  in  the  New 
Testament  Church  under  the  last  and  highest  development 
of  the  covenant  of  grace.  A  ministry  that  unites  in  it  the 
functions  both  of  the  priest  and  the  prophet  of  the  ancient 
Church.  It  is  a  priesthood  that  officiates  not  indeed  at  a  vis- 
ible altar,  but  stands  pointing  to  the  great  sacrifice  ''  ofiered 
once  for  all "  and,  therefore,  not  to  be  repeated ;  and  pro- 
claims, not  in  the  prophetic  language  of  type  and  symbol  and 
ritual,  but  in  the  literal  language  of  great  historic  fact,  that 
God  hath  accepted  the  one  great  offering  of  Christ  crucified, 
in  that  he  raised  him  from  the  dead  and  seated  him  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  It  is  of  the  order  of  the 
prophet :  yet  not  of  one  receiving  his  messages  from  the  vis- 
ions of  the  Almighty  or  in  prophetic  ecstasy,  but  from  the  com- 
pleted revelation — the  perpetual  oracle — to  go  forth  and  saj? 
' '  thus  saith  the  Lord  Jesus. ' '  Its  messages  are  but  still  clearer 
statements  of  what  priests  and  prophets  taught,  and  to  the  same 
purpose,  of  healing  the  broken  hearts,  proclaiming  deliverance 
to  the  captives,  the  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  the  setting 
at  liberty  the  bruised — the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord. 

And  in  this  review  of  the  Saviour's  exposition  of  the 
ancient  prophet,  I  may  say  to  you,  in  a  somewhat  special 
sense — '^  this  day  is  this  scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears."     ] 


THE  GOSPEL  PKEACIIER  SUCCEEDS  rROPlIET  S^PRIEST.22^ 

proclaim,  therefore,  "  tlic  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."  II 
there  be  one  poor  broken-hearted  sinner,  who  has  followed  me 
with  earnest  attention,  through  the  review  of  the  gospel  mes- 
sage ;  to  such  I  say  this  Jesus,  this  gospel  is  intended  for  you. 
lie  hath  come  to  heal  the  broken  heart  to-day  if  you  will 
accept  this  proffered  Saviour  !  If  there  be  a  poor,  broken- 
hearted child  of  God,  prostrate  under  the  heavy  stroke  of 
affliction,  and  crying  in  terror  '•  deep  calleth  unto  deep  at 
the  noise  of  thy  water-spouts  !  All  thy  waves  and  thy  billows 
are  gone  over  me," — then  for  you  this  gospel  is  a  personal 
message.  He  hath  come  to  ;ive  thee  "  a  song  in  the  night,'' 
and  kindly  to  remonstrate  with  thee,  saying,  "  Why  arc  ye 
fearful,  0  ye  of  little  faith."  ''  Hope  thou  in  God,  for  thou 
shalt  yet  praise  him."  If  there  be  any  soul  labouring  under 
the  sense  of  guilt,  and  trembhng  under  the  terrors  of  the  law 
that  proclaims — "The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die," — this 
gospel  is  intended  for  you.  He  comes  this  day  to  invite  you, 
•'  Come  to  me  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  "  There  is  no  con- 
demnation to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus."  If  there  be 
any  soul  seeking  the  way  of  life,  yet  groping  his  way  in  dark 
ness,  this  gospel  to-day  is  intended  for  you.  He  comes  to 
ask  that  you  take  his  hand  and  be  led  by  him,  saying  '•'  I 
will  lead  the  blind  by  a  way  they  know  not."  Nay,  if  there 
be  one  whose  soul  longs  for  this  salvation,  but  finds  faith  sc 
weak  that  it  is  ashamed  and  afraid  to  offer  such  a  faith  ;  this 
gospel,  to-day,  is  to  assure  you  and  encourage  you  to  come — 
saying,  ''  A  bruised  reed  he  will  not  break,  nor  quench  Kic 
smoking  flax."  If  there  be  one  afraid  to  covenant  with  Chr'.sl 
because  of  a  sense  of  impotence  to  keep  his  vows,  from  sc 
often  having  broken  thorn ;  this  gospel  is  intended  for  you. 
to-day.  Me  comes  to  assure  you,  I  will  never  leave  thee  noi 
forsake  thee.  Venture  boldW,  but  venture  whol/y.  "  Rise 
take  up  thy  bed  and  walk !"  Yes  !  ^'  this  day  is  this  scripture 
fulfilled  I    This  is  the  acceptable  ye^r  of  the  Lord." 


DISCOURSE  XL 

THE  GROUND  OF  OUR  SALVATION  NOT  ETHICAL  BUT  EVAN- 
GELICAL :  AND  LIES  WHOLLY  IN  THE  INFINITE  DESIRE 
OF  FATHER,  SON  AND  SPIRIT  TO  SAVE  SINNERS. 

Luke  xv.  Then  drew  near  unto  him  all  the  publicans  and  sinners  for  to 
hear  him. 

And  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes  murmured,  saying, — This  man  receiveth 
sinners  and  eateth  with  them.  And  he  spake  this  parable  unto  them,  say- 
ing,— "What  man  of  jou,  having  an  hundred  sheep,  if  he  lose  one  of  them, 
doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  go  after  that 
which  is  lost,  until  he  find  it  ? 

I  say  unto  you,  that  likewise,  joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that 
repenteth,  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons,  which  need  no 
repentance. 

Either  what  woman  having  ten  pieces  of  silver,  if  she  lose  one  piece,  doth 
not  light  a  candle  and  sweep  the  house,  and  seek  diligently  till  she  find 
it?    &c. 

And  he  said,  A  certain  man  had  two  sons  ;  and  the  younger  of  them  said 
to  his  father.  Father,  give  me  the  portion  of  goods,  «&c.  Son,  thou  art  ever 
with  me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine.  It  was  meet  that  we  should  make 
merry,  and  be  g*lad  ;  for  this  thy  brother  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again ;  and 
was  lost,  and  is  found. 

Such  a  breadth  and  depth  of  thought  have  all  the  utter- 
ances of  Jesus,  that  a  single  paragraph  furnishes  more  than 
theme  sufficient  for  an  ordinary  discourse.  Yet  it  is  well  for 
us  occasionally,  to  select  as  a  theme  for  our  meditations  an 
entire  discourse,  and  seek  to  gather  the  wider  views  of  truth 
which  are  suggested  by  the  analysis  of  ah  entire  argument, 
and  a  summary  view  of  the  bearing  and  relations  of  its  several 
parts  to  each  other,  and  to  the  whole  system  of  doctrine. 


228        SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS    EVANGELICAL. 

Indeed,  in  this  way  only  can  we  properly  apprehend  and 
appreciate  many  of  the  great  truths  which  he  taught ;  since 
their  full  force  can  be  perceived  only  as  we  contemplate  at 
one  view  the  truths  developed  by  his  argument  in  combination, 
and  the  grand  results  of  his  reasoning. 

This  fifteenth  chapter  of  Luke  contains  a  whole  discourse 
of  Jesus,  consisting  of  three  parables,  all  of  them  directed  to 
the  exposition  and  illustration  of  a  great  distinguishing  prin- 
ciple of  his  gospel.  A  principle  which  in  all  ages  has  been 
a  "  hard  saying  "  to  the  wisdom  of  the  world;  but  which  Avas 
specially  inconceivable  to  the  cold,  narrow  casuistic  formalism 
into  which,  at  the  time  Jesus  appeared,  the  Church  of  God 
had  apostatized  under  the  covenant  of  grace,  as  developed  by 
the  covenant  with  David,  concerning  the  typical  kingdom  of 
God. 

The  occasion  which  suggested  the  great  subject  of  this  dis- 
course was  the  objection  of  the  religious  leaders  of  the  Church 
that  one  claiming  to  be  the  Messiah  of  the  covenant,  should 
be  run  after  so,  by  the  masses  of  the  ritually  vile  and  con- 
temptible ;  and  that  he  should  familiarly  associate  with  such 
in  utter  disregard  of  that  spiritual  quarantine,  which  they 
deemed  so  essential  to  prevent  the  contamination  of  the  holy 
from  intercourse  with  publicans  and  sinners.  They  had 
often  before,  with  plausible  hypocrisy,  urged  this  objection 
to  destroy  his  influence  with  the  better  classes  of  society ; 
and,  even  if  honestly  urged,  it  was  chiefly  a  question  of  ritual. 
Yet,  as  in  this  case  the  objection  was  an  outgrowth  of  the 
fatal  error  into  which  they  had  fallen,  subverting  the  very 
central  truth  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  he  thinks  it  worth 
while  to  put  the  cavil  to  silence  by  exposing  the  entire  mis- 
conception of  the  scheme  of  redemption  on  which  it  rests ;  and 
by  bringing  out  in  all  its  amazing  fulness,  the  great  principle 
upon  which  alone  salvation  is  possible  to  any.  For,  as  he 
proceeds  to  show,  salvation  is  all  of  grace.       The  ground  of 


occASiox,  PURPOSE,  &C.5  OF  ciirist's  akgumext.  220 

selecting  its  objects  is  not  any  reason  of  ctliical  and  ritual 
merit  in  them.  It  lies  wholly  in  the  love  of  Christ  in  seeking 
lost  sinners  ;  of  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  Church  finding 
and  renewing  sinners  :  and  of  the  Father  who,  in  consequence 
of  the  work  of  Christ  and  his  Spirit,  receives  and  is  reconciled 
to  sinners,  who  are  all  alike  undeserving,  and  hell-deserving 
sinners. 

If  the  thoughts  of  this  discourse  are  transcendently  sublime, 
not  less  is  the  mode  of  presenting  them  transcendently  simple 
and  beautiful.  In  justification  of  his  course  he  enters  into  no 
profound  metaphysical  discussion,  adapted  specially  to  the 
capacity  of  the  learned  cavillers,  drawn  from  the  nature  of 
the  covenant  of  redemption  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  theo- 
logy revealed  under  it.  So  he  might  have  done  ;  but  having 
regard  rather  to  the  capacity  of  the  poor  publicans  and  sinners 
who,  by  reason  of  the  discouragements  from  the  religious 
teachers,  have  been  led  to  think  that  religion  is  not  a  subject 
comprehensible  by  such  as  they  ;  he  proceeds,  by  his  favorite 
method  of  the  parable,  to  present  the  whole  matter  of  salva- 
tion something  after  our  fashion  of  pictorial  histories  for  the 
children,  to  aid  their  conception  of  the  marvellous  things  of 
which  they  read.  He  presents,  as  it  were,  a  magnificent 
panorama  of  redemption,  a  series  of  |  ictures  exhibiting  the 
attitudes  and  movements  of  all  the  parties  to  the  infinite 
transaction.  First,  the  picture  of  a  scene  in  the  great  sin 
wilderness  ;  the  shepherd,  with  uncalculating  sympathy  for 
the  lost  sheep,  leaving  the  ninety  and  nine  to  go  after  the 
straying  one  ;  and  in  the  foreground  of  the  picture  is  Christ 
the  Great  Shepherd  joyfully  leading  back  the  lost  sheep  : 
while,  floating  in  the  azure  sky  above,  are  the  joyous  faces 
of  angels  manifesting  their  glad  wonder  at  his  success.  Next, 
the  picture  of  the  house-scene  and  the  woman,  his  Church 
animated  hy  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  employed  hy  the  Spirit  as 
his  instrument,  with  like  uncalculating  interest  for  the  lost  one 


230        SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS    NON-ETHICAL. 

of  her  treasure,  eagerlj  searching  for  it ;  and  in  the  fore- 
ground is  the  Spirit-moved  woman  gladly  holding  forth  the 
recovered  treasure ;  while  over  her  again  are  the  faces  of 
sympathizing  angels,  glad  at  her  gladness.  Next,  the  home- 
scene  of  the  Infinite  Father,  as  the  result  of  the  foregoing 
seeking  and  recovering  of  the  lost,  coming  forth,  in  the  full 
yearnings  of  paternal  love,  to  receive  to  his  bosom  the  strayed 
child  that  was  ''  dead  and  is  alive  again  ;"  while  the  angels 
gather  to  the  old  home  from  which  he  strayed,  with  holy 
rejoicings  to  welcome  back  the  lost  one  found.  And  as 
incidental  to  this  are  introduced  views  from  the  human  side. 
First,  of  the  successive  stages  of  the  soul's  progress  in 
straying.  Second,  of  morose  Pharisaism  in  contrast  with  the 
rejoicing  angels — standing  coldly  off  refusing  to  go  in  and 
partake  of  the  general  joy. 

If  we  wished  to  analyze,  in  detail,  this  wonderful  exposition 
of  the  grand  principles  of  redemption,  no  other  method  could 
be  more  logical,  exhaustive,  and  b-eautiful,  than  simply  to  take  up 
in  detail  the  successive  pictures  of  this  series,  and  discuss, 
First,  on  the  divine  side,  the  work  of  Christ,  the  Mediator, 
seeking  the  straying  souls  and  the  principles  and  motives 
from  which  he  acts.  Second,  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  the  Church  with  her  ordinances  ;  and  the  principles 
and  motives  from  which  he  acts.  Third,  the  Father's  act  of 
amnesty  and  reconciliation  in  consequence  of  the  work  of 
Christ  and  the  Spirit ;  and  th<:  principles  and  motives  impell- 
ing him  thereto.  Fourth,  tl  e  sympathetic  interest  of  tlie 
holy  universe  of  intelligent  bei  igs  in  these  great  transactions. 
Then  on  the  human  side,  I  ifth,  the  view,  or  rather  the 
scries  of  views,  of  the  waywai'd  soul  in  its  straying,  and  the 
process  of  its  restoration  to  the  old  heaven  home  from  which 
it  has  strayed.  And  sixth,  t^'ie  picture  of  cold  ethicalism  in 
its  selfishness  and  self-righteo»isness,  carping  at  this  danger- 


THE    CONCERN   IN    HEAVEN    FOR    SINNERS.      231 

ous,  unethical  enthusiasm  over  a  miserable,  thriftless,  worthless 
sinner. 

The  limits  of  a  single  discourse,  however,  are  too  narrow 
for  such  an  exposition  in  detail.  Let  us  seek,  rather,  in  a 
more  summary  method  to  gather  the  general  doctrines  of 
the  argument  of  Jesus,  from  the  three  parables.  This  we 
may  do  by  a  consideration  of  the  three  general  topics 
which  the  argument  of  the  three  parables  expounds  and  illus- 
trates : — 

First,  The  principles  and  impulses  on  the  divine  side, 
which  prompt  and  govern  the  work  of  redemption. 

Second.  The  principles  and  impulses  which,  working  in 
the  soul,  lead  to  its  redemption. 

Third.  In  contrast  with  these,  the  principles  and  impulses 
of  that  ethical  gospel  of  the  casuistic  Scribes  and  ritualistic 
Pharisees,  which  it  is  a  chief  aim  of  Jesus,  in  this  discourse  of 
the  three  parables,  to  expose  and  rebuke. 

I. — The  obvious  meaning  of  the  whole  argument  is,  that, 
in  the  first  place,  as  before  the  eye  of  God  and  all  holy  beings, 
the  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness  alike  ;  that  all  have 
gone  astray ;  that  there  is  none  that  doeth  good  ;  and  there- 
fore the  very  conception  of  any  meritorious  party,  as  contrasted 
with  the  wrath-deserving  publicans  and  sinners  is  utterly 
absurd — It  is  another  form  of  stating  the  great  truth  in  which 
the  entire  gospel  theology  finds  its  starting  place ;  that  all 
men,  by  reason  of  a  vast  spiritual  apostasy  at  the  very  origin 
of  the  race,  are  fallen,  by  nature,  and  lie  in  an  estate  of  sin 
and  misery.  Any  theory  Avhich  ignores  this  fundamental  fact 
cannot  possibly  lead  to  a  right  comprehension  of  the  revealed 
gospel  of  God.  Yet — while  declaring  man  utterly  depraved 
and  lost,  the  whole  head  sick  and  the  whole  heart  faint,  all 
wounds  and  braises  and  putrifying  sores — the  gospel  has  no 
sort  of  sympathy  with  the  morose,  cynical  philosopliy  thai 
scoffs  at  the  littleness  of  man  and  his  baseness,  and  asks  bnce)-- 


232        SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS    EVANGELICAL. 

inglj,  "  What  is  man  that  Thou  shouldst  be  mindful  of  him 
or  the  Son  of  man  that  thou  visitest  him?''  It  recognizes 
him,  base  as  he  is,  as  originally  made  for  a  higher  condition, 
and  even  yet  capable  of  a  glorious  destiny.  Accordingly, 
Jesus  here  represents  all  the  holy  universe  as  interested  for 
him.  Seeking  sinners,  finding  sinners,  receiving  sinners, 
rejoicing  over  sinners  is  the  grand  idea  of  all  heaven,  and,  in 
heaven,  is  the  fundamental  conception  of  redemption.  The 
mediatorial  work  of  Christ  was  to  go  after  sinners  straying 
and  stumbling  on  the  dark  mountains. 

The  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  all  the  ordinances  of 
the  Church  is  diltgently  to  seek  for  the  sinner  as  for  lost 
treasure.  The  Infinite  Father's  heart  yearns  for  the 
straying  sinners  as  over  his  lost  children,  debased  as  they 
may  have  become,  and  rejoices  over  their  return.  And  all 
the  holy  beings  that,  as  "  ministers  of  his  that  do  his  pleasure," 
are  full  of  sympathetic  concern  for  the  lost ;  of  sympathetic 
interest  for  their  restoration ;  and  of  sympathetic  joy  over 
their  return. 

The  attitude  of  God  the  Saviour  toward  man  the  sinner,  is 
not  that  of  an  Infinite  Ruler  chaffering  about  terms  of  amnesty 
— Tlie  scheme  of  the  theology  revealed  from  heaven  is  no 
commercial  calculation  of  profit  and  loss  to  the  universe,  of 
saving  or  of  leaving  to  perish.  The  God  whom  it  reveals  is 
not  an  infinite  pohtical  economist,  working  out  the  problem  of 
what  souls  it  will  cost  too  much  to  save,  and  the  saving  of 
what  other  souls  will  require  little  sacrifice  of  the  majesty  and 
stern  demands  of  justice.  Jesus  transfers  the  whole  matter 
out  of  the  sphere  of  the  cold,  calculating  ethical  reason,  into 
the  sphere  of  the  heart  moved  by  the  natural  impulses  and 
sympathies  and  affections,  whose  forces  are  not  to  be  estimated 
by  the  measures  of  reason  and  expediency.  So  he  here 
represents  every  aspect  of  the  work  of  salvation. 

Tiio  Mediator  who  undertook  to  procure  salvation ;    the 


TRUE  AXALOc;Y  the  IIEAKT  impulse  not  liEASOX.   'So3 

Holy  Spirit  who  applies  the  benefits  of  his  mediation  through 
the  ordinances  of  the  Church ;  the  Father  who,  thereby,  is 
reconciled  and  receiving  l)ack  the  straying  soul — all  are 
actuated  hy  motives  that  are  analogous  to  the  natural  affec- 
tions and  their  impulses,  rather  than  analogous  to  the  cautious 
ethical  judgments  of  the  reason.  And,  so  f\xr  from  seeing,  in 
this,  anything  of  danger  to  the  stability  of  God's  eternal  law 
of  righteousness,  and  therefore  jealously  watching  the  move- 
ments of  infinite  love  in  favour  of  the  apostate  race — all  tlio 
holy  beings  in  the  universe  are  looking  on  with  sympathetic 
enthusiasm  from  the  lofty  eminences  of  their  holiness,  and  the 
return  of  any  one  sinner  of  all  the  guilty  race,  crying: 
"Father,  I  have  sinned"  spreads  joy  and  high  gratulation 
through  all  the  mansion  in  heaven  ! 

This  is  w^onderful,  surpassingly  w^onderful,  to  mere  human 
conceptions ;  and  to  the  ethical  philosophy  of  this  world 
seems  a  most  dangerous  view  of  religion.  All  Scribedom 
shudders,  at  seeing  thus  brushed  away  the  elaborate  ramparts 
of  casuistic  cobweb  which  it  hath  erected  to  fence  in  purity 
and  holy  respectability  from  the  contamination  of  publicans 
and  sinners.  All  Phariseedom  shrinks  in  horror,  '•  as  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence"  under  the  preaching 
of  such  a  gospel,  at  the  thought  of  soiling  the  sky-pure  blue 
of  the  hem  of  its  garments,  and  of  the  shocking  rumpling  of 
its  showy  phylacteries,  in  the  press  and  jostling  of  the  vulgar 
crowd  of  the  accursed. 

And  yet,  if  our  limits  permitted,  it  might  readily  be  shown 
that  in  thus  describing  the  impulses  that  move  all  heaven  for 
the  sinner's  salvatioil,  Jesus  hath  by  no  means  carried  us 
beyond  all  analogies  of  nature,  or  reasoned  contrary  to  all 
natural  analogies ;  and  that  it  is  the  Scribes  and  Phari>ees 
who,  absorbed  in  their  casuistic  and  ritualistic  abstractions 
have  forgotten  nature  and  common  sense.  Nay,  but  it  i.ee<^s 
no  argument  and  defence  from  us.     Jesus  himself,  with  a 


234        SALVATION    ON-    GROUNDS    NON-ETHICAL. 

divine  sabtlety  of  logic,  has  construed  the  argument  by  th® 
very  selection  of  liis  analogies  in  the  parables.  The  all- 
absorbing  zeal  of  the  shepherd  to  recover  the  lost  sheep  that 
is  oblivious  of  the  ninety  and  nine  that  are  not  lost ;  the  like 
zeal  of  the  woman,  that  seems  to  make  little  account  of  the  niije 
pieces  in  her  eagerness  to  recover  the  lost  one ;  the  yearning  of 
vhe  f9,ther's  heart  and  his  all-absorbing  joy  at  the  recovery  of 
the  lost  son,  as  if  he  had  no  other  son  all  the  while  ; — all  these 
are  pictures  of  very  paradoxical  things,  and  curious  problems 
in  human  nature  which  it  would  puzzle  reason  to  solve  by  its 
rules  of  ethics,  propriety  and  expediency.  And  yet  every 
body  knows  that  they  are  most  natural  things, — beautifully 
natural,  and  true  to  the  life  as  heart  pictures  !  Somehow, 
whether  there  is  any  reason  and  propriety  in  the  thing  or  not, 
the  natural  men  and  women  of  earth, — the  shepherds,  the 
housekeepers,  the  fathers  and  mothers — will  feel  a  concern 
about  the  straying  sheep,  the  lost  money  and  the  wayward 
son,  that  seems  to  make  them  comparatively  heedless  of  that 
which  is  all  safe  in  possession.  Somehow  they  will  rejoice 
more  over  the  one  found  than  over  the  ninety  and  nine,  the 
nine,  or  the  one,  not  lost !  And  their  good  friends  and  neigh- 
bours will,  somehow,  sympathize  more  with  their  joy,  in 
recovering  the  lost  than  in  their  contentment  with  what  is 
not  lost — yet  all  this  they  will  do  in  utter  disregard  of  the 
astute  reasonings  of  the  philosophy  of  expediency,  the 
acute  theories  of  the  economists,  and  the  staid  dignities  and 
proprieties  of  the  worldly-wise  sages !  The  one  sheep  that 
has  strayed  from  the  fold  will  occupy  more  of  the  thoughts 
and  engage  more  of  the  earnest  attention  than  all  that  have  not 
strayed.  The  misfortune  that  causes  the  loss  of  the  tithe  of  a 
man's  property  will  be  felt  by  him  more  keenly  than  all  the 
enjoyments  of  the  possession  that  still  remains  to  him.  He 
will  feel,  and  his  friends  will  feel,  a  keener  sense  of  joy  over 
the  recovery  of  the  lost.     The  father's  thoughts  will  go  after 


TRUE  ANALOGY  THE  HEART  IMPULSE  NOT  REASON.  235 

the  son  that  has  Avandcrcd  ;  the  son  far  off  exposed  to  danger 
from  shipwreck  and  the  battle  field ;  the  son  whom  calamity 
has  overtaken ;  and  his  return  in  safety,  or  his  relief,  Avill 
cause  a  joy  not  felt  towards  the  sons  who  have  been  ever  with 
him.  Every  day  we  may  see  the  illustration  of  the  principle 
of  the  joy  among  the  angels  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth- 
See,  when  one  child  of  this  large  household  is  smitten,  and  is 
fighting  the  death  battle  wi-th  disease,  how  the  one  monopolizes 
for  the  time  being,  all  the  attention,  as  if  there  wxrc  no  other 
unsmitten  children  in  the  house.  All  the  thoughts,  all  the 
heart  anxieties,  of  father,  mother,  brothers,  sisters,  concen- 
trate upon  the  sufferer  as  if  every  life  was  bound  up  in 
this  one  life.  Nay,  the  interest  spreads  to  the  whole  circle 
of  friends  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  a  thousand  anxious 
incpiiries  and  earnest  sympathies  crowd  in  from  every  side. 
And  now,  as  the  indications  are  that  the  fight  is  won,  and 
death  bafiled,  what  joy  begins  to  well  up  out  of  the  heart  o^ 
father,  mother,  brothers,  sisters,  and  to  overspread  every 
countenance !  What  joyous  congratulations  from  friends 
everywhere ! 

Need  I  remind  you  how  in  these  days  of  dreadful  carnage 
and  sufiering  on  the  battle  field,  all  the  interest  of  the  family 
concentrates  upon  the  noble  son  who  has  gone  forth  to  the 
toils  and  dangers  of  war.  And  how  after  the  battle,  as  the 
whole  country  waits  in  breathless  expectation  for  the  news  of 
victory  or  defeat,  one  could  not  tell,  on  visiting  that  family, 
that  there  was  any  other  being  in  the  universe  about  whom 
they  felt  any  special  concern,  until  the  question  of  the  safety 
of  the  absent  son  is  settled  ?  And  when  the  word  comes 
that  all  is  well  with  him  a  joy  fills  their  hearts  that  seems  to 
exclude  all  joy  over  the  other  sons  that  have  remained  in 
safety. 

Now  Jesus,  selecting  his  analogies  in  a  manner  to  bring 
out  this  principle  of  human  nature  that  is  so  indisputable  as 


236         SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS    EVANGELICAL. 

a  fact,  whether  it  square  with  theoretic  reasoning  or  not, 
simply  transfers  the  whole  matter  of  salvation  to  the  same 
sphere,  as  analogous  to  these  natural  impulses.  He  might, 
doubtless,  of  his  infinite  knowledge  have  suggested  to  the 
"learned  scribes  reasons  of  infinite  force,  why  Christ  and  the 
Spirit  and  the  Father,  and  the  holy  angels  in  sympathy  also, 
felt  this  special  interest  in  lost  men.  Perhaps  it  is  because 
there  was  something  special  in  the  case  of  man,  as  a  new 
order  of  being  in  the  universe,  a  compound  order  of  animal 
and  angel  which  caused  all  heaven  to  feel  an  interest — first, 
in  his  creation,  then  in  his  trial,  and  then  in  his  recovery  after 
his  fall.  Man  may  have  some  mysterious  importance  of  this 
sort  from  his  peculiar  relations  to  the  universe.  We  have  in 
Scrijjture  mention  of  three  occasions  in  which  the  angelic 
•orders  evinced  sympathetic  joy.  The  first  was  on  the  occasion 
of  the  creation  of  man  and  his  world.  "  Then  the  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 
The  second,  the  occasion  when  the  Son  of  God  became  m.an. 
''  A  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  was  Avith  the  angel  prais- 
ing God,  and  saying  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth 
peace,  good  will  towards  men."  The  third  is  the  occasion 
mentioned  by  Jesus  in  this  discourse.  "  There  is  joy  in  the 
presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth." 
From  collating  these  three  occasions  we  would  be  led,  natur- 
.ally  enough,  to  the  inference,  that  there  is  some  high  mysteri- 
ous importance  attached  by  the  universe  of  purely  igpiritual 
beings  to  the  calHng  into  existence  of  this  new  and  peculiar 
order  of  being,  the  compound  creature  man ;  a  creature  not 
after  the  angeUc  order  of  a  separate,  individual,  immaterial 
existence,  but  capable,  through  the  connection  of  his  spirit 
with  matter,  of  communicating  the  power  of  an  endless  life  to 
a  whole  race  of  beings  propagated  from  him.  Hence  possibly 
the  concern  at  the  failure  of  the,  experiment  in  his  trial ;  and 
therefore  the  joy  and  praising  God  at  the  near  completion  of 


PICTURES    OF    THE    STRAYING    SOUL.  237 

the  scheme  for  liis  restoration  ;  hence  the  special  joy  at  every 
instance  of  the  success  of  that  scheme  in  the  repentance  and 
return  of  the  sinner. 

But  Jesus  enters  into  no  such  high  argument.  He  is 
preaching  to  the  capacity  of  the  poor,  the  publicans,  the  sin- 
ners who  comprehend  little  of  theology.  Therefore  he  simply 
illustrates  by  a  fact  in  the  sphere  of  nature,  that  all  alike 
comprehend  the  certainty  and  force  of ;  that  the  natural  fecl- 
in";s  of  the  heart  run  not  accordin<2;  to  the  cold  abstract 
reasonings  of  men.  And  then  explains  the  relations  of  God. 
to  sinners,  under  the  gospel,  as  coming  within  the  sphere  ol 
the  unbidden  impulses  of  the  heart  and  natural  affection  rather 
than  of  the  cold  reasonings  of  ethical  philosophy  and  natural 
religion. 

II. — incidental  to  this  great  pictorial  theology  on  the 
divine  side,  is  the  pictorial  series  illustrative  of  a  soul  history, 
in  the  out  workings  of  the  gospel  plan.  First,  is  presented, 
the  scene  of  a  quiet  home,  the  result  of  industry,  thrift  and 
economy  under  God's  great  law  "  in  the  sweat  of  thy  brow 
thou  shalt  eat  bread."  And  earth  now  can  furnish  no  nearer 
a  resemblance  to  that  original  home  of  the  race  in  Paradise 
from  which  man  fell.  But,  strangely  enough,  there  is  seen 
one  standing,  as  the  central  figure  of  the  picture,  amid  all  its 
scenes  of  comfort  and  peace,  with  every  mark  of  dissatisfac- 
tion and  impatience.  One  idea  is  dominant  in  his  mind — the 
idea  of  independence.  Ambitious  of  being  his  own  man, 
buoyant  with  many  illusive  hopes,  he  somewhat  arrogantly 
demands,  "  Give  me  the  portion  that  falleth  to  me  "  that  I 
may  do  as  I  will  with  my  own,  and  goes  forth  to  be  ''  lord 
of  himself,  that  heritage  of  wo." 

I  must  leave  each  one  of  you,  brethren,  to  answer  for  him. 
self,  as  wc  pass  rapidly  in  review  these  pictures,  how  far  this 
is  your  soul  history. 

A  second  picture  now  presents  itself.     Instead  of  the  quiet 


238        SALVATION    ON   GROUNDS    NON-ETIIICAL. 

home,  behold  the  hall  of  gajety  and  revelry,  radiant  mth 
light,  peopled  with  crowds -of  pleasure-seekers.  The  wine  cup 
sparkles  ;  the  dance  wreathed  in  circles  of  glorious  fascina- 
tion ;  music  charms  the  senses  ;  wit,  jocund  rep  rtee,  song, 
beguile  the  hours.  In  the  midst  of  the  scene  we  recognize 
the  youth  of  the  former  picture ;  yet  how  greatly  changed. 
The  natural  excitement  and  glow  of  youth  has  given  place 
to  the  unnatural,  feverish  excitement  of  the  madman,  with 
disgust  for  the  present,  eagerly  grasping  at  the  future  and  the 
unattained.  Every  countenance  indicates  eJBfort  to  think  and 
feel,  this  is  pleasure,  while  the  inner  consciousness  gives  the 
lie  to  the  profession. 

Let  those  who  crowd  the  avenues  to  fame  and  pleasure, 
judge  for  themselves  how  far  this  is  a  life  picture. 

A  third  picture  presents  itself.  The  splendid  hall  of  revelry 
is  in  the  back  ground,  all  gloomy  and  deserted.  The  brilliant 
lights  are  extinguished ;  the  garlands  faded ;  the  stage 
scenery  is  removed ;  and  the  stripped  machinery  exposes  the 
coarse  puUies,  the  dirty  ropes,  the  greasy  lamps,  the  rough 
boards,  that  moved  and  supported  all  the  gay  pageant.  And 
here  in  the  foreground  sits  a  skeleton-like  figure,  with  eyes 
unnaturally  strained  in  search  of  food.  We  recognize  in  it 
the  youth  of  the  first  picture ;  and  the  man  of  i^leasure  in  the 
second.  Ragged  and  friendless  he  is  gazing  enviously  upon 
a  lean  herd  of  swine,  as  they  devour  the  rough  pods  of  the 
carob  tree.  Yet  it  is  plain  that,  under  all  the  desires  of  the 
physical  nature  for  food,  there  are  other  thoughts  troubling 
him.  There  is  a  consciousness  of  self-degradation,  of  utter, 
incorrigible  folly,  of  self-loathing  and  self-condemnation. 
There  is  a  struggle,  as  between  midnight  darkness  and  flashes 
of  light.  Memory  recalls  glorious  recollections,  and  despair 
dashes  the  hopes  inspired  by  memory :  till  at  length  assuming 
the  courage  of  a  man  he  seems, to  resolve  "  I  will  arise  and 
go  to  my  father." 


PICTURES    OF    THE    STRAYIXG    SOUL.  230 

This  picture  presents  tlie  Avhole  gosi)cl  theory  of  man's 
aatural  condition,  even  as  ho  himself  must  see  it  when  he 
3omes  to  himself.  A  being  constituted  as  he  is,  even  ^vhilo 
he  is  straying  away  from  God,  must  feel  in  his  nature,  if  he 
will  heed  it.  the  gnawings  of  an  unappeasable  hunger.  For 
•'  man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone."  He;:co  this  perpetual 
restlessness  and  discontent,  even  when  "  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  and  the  glory  of  them "  have  been  obtained. 
These  souls  arc  hungry.  They  are  trying  to  feed  on  carob 
pods  which  are  no  true  soul-food,  only  husks  that  the  swine 
io  eat.  Hence  those  passions  that  render  life  miserable. 
This  envy  is  but  the  sore  hunger  casting  its  malignant,  selfish 
glance  at  the  imagined  soul-feeding  of  others.  It  is  famine 
glaring  upon  the  food  of  others,  the  sight  of  which  only  rasps 
md  tortures  the  hungry  soul  the  more !  This  cynical  morose- 
aess,  and  this  remorse,  are  but  the  sore  famine,  turning  in  to 
prey  upon  the  famished  man's  own  flesh.  And  so  of  all  other 
passions.  Hence  saith  the  gospel  prophet,  "  The  wicked 
are  as  the  troubled  sea  which  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast 
up  mire  and  dirt.  There  is  no  peace  saith  my  God  to  the 
wicked."  This  is  the  gospel  explanation  of  the  phenomena 
Df  human  nature  in  its  restlessness  and  passions.  And  man 
is  not  far-sighted  enough  to  see  what  is  the  matter  wii;!  him,  • 
bill,  under  the  impulses  of  the  Spirit,  "  he  come  to  himself." 
Then,  as  he  begins  to  be  rational,  his  dreadful  condition  breaks 
upon  him  and  drives  him  to  Christ  for  help. 

Once  more  the  canvas  moves.  The  scene  of  the  first 
picture  in  part  reappears,  the  blessed  home.  But  on  the 
fore-ground  of  the  picture  appears  a  wretched-looking,  emaci- 
ated man  that  totters  and  averts  his  face  in  shame,  as  he 
stretches  forth  his  hands  beseechingly.  We  recognize  him  as 
the  same  -who  has  figured  in  different  aspects  in  eacli  of  the 
views.  Coming  towards  him  with  out-stretched  arms  of  wel- 
come appears  the  father  from  whom  he  so  rudely  separated 


240        SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS   EVANGELICAL. 

in  the  first  .view.  The  figures  dissolve  as  we  gaze  upon  them, 
and  lo !  the  old  mansion  becomes  lighted  up,  and  there  is  a 
ghid  gathering  of  friends,  and  all  the  symbols  of  rejoicing 
over  the  lost  one  found. 

Brethren,  can  you  testify  to  the  truthfulness  of  this  picture 
also  ?  If  not,  then  as  you  follow  this  series  of  pictures  to  the 
conclusion,  no  more  conceive  of  the  gospel  call  as  simply  a 
cold  ethical  command ;  and  of  obedience  to  it  a  mere  cold 
calculating  resolve  to  reform,  which  resolve  shall  be  executed 
at  some  convenient  season.  Endeavour  to  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  this  soul-stirring  picture  of  Jesus ;  give  that  hungry 
soul  of  yours  a  chance ;  and  if  you  feel  "  I  am  perishing 
with  hunger,"  arise,  just  as  you  are,  and  go  to  your  Father  ; 
and,  with  uncalculating  child-like  affection,  rush  to  his  arms, 
and  spring  within  the  blow  of  the  rod  of  justice.  Then 
"  shall  there  be  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  " 
over  you  also  ! 

III. — Having  thus  expounded  the  spirit  and  principles  of 
the  theology  of  salvation  on  the  divine  side,  and  on  the 
human  side,  Jesus  proceeds  to  expose  and  rebuke  the  ethical 
gospel  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  by  exhibiting  in  contrast 
with  all  these  noble  and  generous  evangelical  views  of  Christ, 
the  Spirit,  the  Father  and  the  holy  angels,  and  of  the  rescued 
sinner,  the  reasoning  and  spirit  of  the  representative  man  of 
the  ethical  gospel.  For  we  need  not  care  here  to  enter  into 
any  learned  enquiry  with  Jerome,  Tertullian,  and  other 
fathers,  whether  the  historic  original  of  the  younger  son  be 
the  Gentiles,  and  the  historic  original  of  the  older  son,  the 
Jews.  No  matter  to  whom  primary  reference  is  made  as  the 
original  of  the  portraits — ^if  there  be  any  such  primary  refer- 
ence at  all — "  the  word  is  spoken  unto  us,"  and  paints  our 
times  just  as  truly.  It  was  spoken  in  reference  to  a  revival 
of  religion  which  interested  the  jnasses  of  the  people,  while 
it  aroused  the  murmurs  of  unspiritual  formalists.     And  when- 


PORTRAIT    OF    Tin:    in'llICAL    RELir.lOMSM.       241 

ever  tlic  like  thing  occurs — wlicthcr  iu  the  awiikening  of  tl'e 
masses,  or  the  awakening  of  a  single  soul,  giving  rise  to  the 
same  objections — then  of  that  thing  Jesus  is  here  speaking. 

The  canvas  moves,  therefore,  once  more,  and,  throwing 
the  illuminated  home  into  the  back-ground,  presents,  in  the 
fore-ground,  the  representative  of  staid  and  proper  formalism 
greatly  excited  ;  but  with  any  other  feelings  than  sympathy 
in  the  general  joy.  Hearing  the  news,  and  observing  the  joy 
which  it  occasions,  he  is  indignant,  and  Avill  not  go  in.  As 
in  the  previous  pictures  Ave  have  inside  views  of  the  whole 
gospel  scheme  ;  so  now  we  have  the  outside  view  of  the  whoic 
matter,  as  viewed  objectively  by  world  wisdom,  which  has 
never  yet  experienced  its  saving  power. 

And  the  more  carefully  we  analyze  the  picture,  tlio  more 
wonderful  will  its  life-likeness  impress  us,  as  a  portraiture  of 
a  phase  of  religion,  and  indeed  a  family  of  religionists,  who 
appear  upon  the  stage  Avhenever  the  w^ork  of  divine  grace 
manifests  its  power  among  the  publicans  and  sinners,  and 
whenever  the  shepherd  rejoices,  and  the  w^oman  rejoices,  and 
the  father,  with  all  the  angels,  rejoices  over  the  lost  found.  I 
have  space  to  present  only  the  general  peculiarities  and 
phases  of  the  antagonism  to  the  gospel  symbolized  by  this 
elder  brother. 

The  same  fundamental  theory  of  religion  represented  by 
this  elder  brother,  with  its  ethical  gospel  and  its  hostility  to 
evangelical  faith,  may  exist,  and  in  fact  always  has  existed, 
under  two  somewhat  opposite  phases.  One,  the  gospel  of 
Formalism,  with  its  ethics  of  "  days  and  weeks  and  months 
and  years  ;"  with  its  penances  and  prayers-sayings  ;  Avith 
its  charitable  works  of  merit  and  its  punctilious  ritual  obser- 
vances. The  other,  the  gospel  of  Rationalism,  with  its  elabor- 
ate rules  of  ethics  ;  of  obedience  to  the  laws  of  human  nature  ; 
with  its  spiritual  insights  to  guide  to  all  truth  of  natural 
religion ;  with  its  special  reverence  for  the  dignity  of  human 

Q 


242        SALVATION   CN    GROUNDS    EVANGELICAL. 

nature,  in  the  higher  and  purer  specimens  of  it.  Thus  it 
was  at  the  time  of  Jesus'  appearing.  Phariseeism  and  Saddu- 
ceeism,  however  at  war  between  themselves,  jet  uniting  on 
the  common  platform  of  an  ethical  gospel,  made  common 
cause  against  the  doctrines  of  the  new  kingdom  of  God. 
Thus  it  continued  to  be  during  the  ministry  of  Paul  in  a 
different  field.  The  ritualistic  "Jew  required  a  sign;"  the 
rationalistic  "  Greek  sought  after  wisdom ;"  while  both  alike 
were  hostile  to  a  scheme  of  salvation  bj  grace,  which  was 
"  to  the  Jew  a  stumbling  block,  and  to  the  Greek  foolishness." 
j\ftid  the  great  burden  of  the  Apostle's  masterly  argument- 
ations is  the  defence  of  "  salvation  by  grace  not  of  works, 
lest  any  man  should  boast" — against  the  ritualism  which 
insisted  on  the  merit  of  ceremonial  observances,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  rationalism  that  scoffed  at  the  unethical  char- 
acter of  his  gospel  on  the  other. 

And,  in  every  age  since,  these  have  been  the  true  dividing 
lines  between  the  religions  of  all  Christendom.  Since  the 
great  Reformation — itself  a  grand  struggle  of  the  revived 
gospel  of  Jesus,  first  against  the  ritualism  which  had  stifled 
its  voice  for  ages,  and  then  against  the  rationalism  which, 
while  rejecting  the  spiritual  despotism,  despised  the  doctrine 
of  salvation  by  grace,  even  more  than  the  ritual  dogmas  of 
the  priestly  despots — the  whole  field  of  religious  thought 
has  been  subdivided  between  these  three  general  forms  ; — of 
Phariseeism  with  its  ethics  of  ritual  as  the  ground  of  a  sinner's 
claim  ;  Rationalism  or  Sadduceeism  with  its  ethics  of  natural 
religion  and  its  pretended  obedience  to  the  whole  law ;  and 
Spiritualism  Avith  its  gospel  of  saving  the  lost  by  the  direct 
interposition  of  divine  love,  without  works  of  merit,  but 
simply  because  Christ  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us : 
because  the  Spirit  loves  and  seeks  out  and  renews  the  lost 
sinner  ;  because  the  Father  "  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son." 


rOKTKAIT    OF    THE    ETHICAL    RELIGIONISM.        243 

iVnd,  perhaps,  tit  no  period  of  the  workUs  liistory  have 
these  three  systems  been  fighting  the  battle  more  vigorously 
than  at  this  day.  Alas,  I  ought  to  say  perhaps,  that  never 
have  the  two  great  antagonists  of  the  gospel  been  more 
vigorous  in  their  fierce  hostility  to  this  gospel  of  grace  for 
publicans  and  sinners,  or  more  subtle  in  the  arts  whereby 
they  would  destroy  its  power  in  the  world  ;  while  the  gospel 
itself  seems  to  have  become  enervated,  its  triumphs  checked, 
and  its  champions  disposed  to  make  terms  of  capitulation, 
and  give  up  the  strongholds  of  truth ! 

Nay,  to  give  more  definiteness  to  your  conceptions,  I  may 
remind  you  that  you  may  see  this  conflict  going  on  within 
your  own  circle.  If  you  examine  the  matter  a  little,  you 
shall  find  the  religion  of  all  the  men  and  women  of  your  ac- 
(piaintance  dividing  into  these  three  great  charclies.  Not 
according  to  the  ostensible  denominational  lines  of  distinction, 
at  all,  but  by  lines  ot  division  running  across  all  these  lines- 
Of  one  division  the  Papist  leads  the  van ;  but  in  his  wake 
follows  a  long  line  of  ritualists,  gradually  shading  down  to  a 
few  simple  forms  held  in  connection  with  the  true  gospel 
faith.  Of  another  division  the  devotees  of  "  the  advanced 
thought" — who  have  discovered  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  is 
a  laggard  no  longer  to  be  borne  with  as  a  dead  weight  upon 
their  march  ;  and,  almost  abreast  of  the  main  advance,  Uni- 
tarianism — falsely  so  calling  it  iiihil-arianism — marches,  Avith 
its  long  line  following  ;  not  tapering,  but  spreading  its  evcr- 
w^idening  skirt  over  numerous  phases  of  religious  thought  in 
all  churches.  Popish  and  Protestant  alike.  Of  a  third  divi- 
sion, the  most  earnest  of  those  in  all  churches  who  contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  as  the 
foundation  of  the  gospel  ofier  to  the  publicans  and  sinners, 
lead  the  van  ;  and  these  followed  at  different  intervals — ac- 
cording as  their  zeal  is  strengthened  and  quickened  by  the 
knowledge  which  Christ  has  prescribed  to  direct  Christian 


2i4        SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS    EVANGELICAL. 

Z9al-    by  the    various   sections  of   those    whose  hearts  aro 
touched  by  this  gospel  for  pubUcans  and  sinners. 

Now  nothing  can  be  conceived  more  exquisite  than  the  skill 
with  which  Jesus  paints  this  representative  man,  as  a  general 
portrait,  equallv  life-like,  of  either  and  of  all  the  phases  of 
this  ethical  religionism,  whether  ritual  or  rationalistic,  whether 
oicnly  infidel  or  covert  under  great  apparent  zeal,  for  the 
publicans  and  sinners. 

The  chief  lines  of  the  character  are  :  First,  his  calm,  cool 
spirit  of  incpiiry,  which  carefully  avoids  any  contamination 
from  the  joyous  excitement  that  reigns  in  the  house.  "  Tie 
would  not  go  in."  He  is  one  Avho  does  not  allow  himself  to 
feel  joyous  from  mere  infection  of  sympathy,  even  with  friends 
who  are  all  hilarity.  The  emotions,  on  his  theory,  are  not 
to  be  allowed  to  gush  wildly  from  the  heart,  but  made  to 
behave  themselves  in  the  most  marvellously  proper  manner, 
by  being  allowed  to  exhibit  themselves  only — after  reason  has 
carefully  considered  whether  it  is  fit  occasion — according  to 
rule.  "  He  heard  music  and  dancing,  and  he  called  one  of 
the  servants,  and  asked  what  these  things  meant  ?" 

Second,  his  grave  attempt  to  investigate  the  ethical  fitness 
of  things,  first,  by  reason  ;  excluding,  as  of  no  account  in 
the  matter,  all  impulses  of  affection.  Instead  of  rushing  in  at 
the  news  to  share  the  general  joy,  he  stands  without  in  silent 
di^inified  rebuke  of  the  fanaticism.  He  will  first  weigh  in  the 
balance  of  sober  reason  these  emotions  ;  and,  of  course,  the 
unbidden  unreasoning  emotions  of  the  heart  will  weigh  very 
little  in  such  scales. 

Third.  With  all  his  cool  deliberate  emotionless  power  of 
judgment,  ''  he  is  angry. '^^  How  paradoxical,  and  yet  how 
natural  and  true  to  the  life  !  For  in  all  ages  alike  has  this 
paradox  exhibited  itself,  that  the  grave  philosophic  men  of 
ethics  and  the  stately  and  dignified  men  of  rituals,  alike,  while 
so  cautiously  avoiding  all  impulses  of  the  gospel  love,  have 


PORTRAIT    OF    THE    ETHICAL   RELIGIONISM.       245 

yet  uniformly  indulged  very  freely  the  impulses  of  anger 
toward  the  evangelical  faith.  While  treating  the  impulses  of 
enthusiastic  love  in  the  heart  as  fatal  to  any  well-balanced 
judgment  in  religion,  they  seem  altogether  unconscious  that 
the  opposite  emotion  of  anger  can  in  the  least  disturb  the 
delicate  balance  of  their  ethical  judgments.  Nothing  is  more 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  conflict  of  evangelical  faith 
with  its  two  great  antagonists,  than  the  fact,  that  in  proportion 
as  the  former  is  earnest  and  sincere  in  its  zeal  for  the  salva- 
tion of  pubhcans  and  sinners,  does  it  rouse  the  anger  and 
malignity  of  its  antagonists.  The  calm  ethical  philosopher, 
whose  spirit  is  unruffled  as  the  sleeping  waters  on  all  other 
topics  in  the  domain  of  truth,  becomes  most  unphilosophically 
angry  when  the  subject  is  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 

The  stately  devotee  of  the  ritual,  while  he  can  patiently 
endure,  even  with  a  half-forgiving  smile,  any  and  every  form 
of  rationalistic,  semi-rationalistic,  or  unearnest  dissent  from 
his  apostolical  authority,  yet  can  seldom  refrain  from  anger 
when  the  dissent  comes  from  the  disciples  of  an  earnest  evan- 
gelical faith.  Pilot  and  Herod  here  make  friends  over  the 
condemnation  of  Jesus ;  and  the  grave  philosopher  can  sneer 
just  as  malignantly,  and  the  grave  ritualist  curse,  just  as  heartily 
as  common  men. 

Fourth,  his  contemptuous  refusal  to  acknowledge  as  of  the 
same  blood  with  himself  and  part  of  the  family,  the  humbled 
sinner  who  cries  "  father  I  have  sinned."  "  This  thy  son  " 
saith  he — not  my  brother — "  which  has  devoured  thy  living 
with  harlots."  The  significancy  of  this,  and  its  truthfulness, 
few  of  you  need  to  have  pointed  out  who  have  witnessed  the 
ridiculous  affectation  of  exclusive  ritualists.  I  pass  on  there- 
fore to  the  more  important  errors  represented. 

Fifth,  his  argument  against  the  ethical  justice  of  thus  receiv- 
ing back  the  erring  sinner — "  Thou  hast  killed  for  him  the 
fatted  calf."     The  principle  of  his  argument  is  precisely  the 


246   SALVATION  ON  GROUNDS  EVANGELICAL. 

same  which  is  involved  iu  all  the  scoiFs  and  sneers  and  learned 
reasonings  of  ethicalism  in  all  ages.  On  the  one  hand  the 
injustice  of  bestowing  the  reward  of  everlasting  life  upon  the 
utterly  undeserving.  On  the  other  hand  the  inexpediency  of  it ; 
for  what  shall  become  of  virtue  in  the  world,  if  heaven  is  not  the 
reward  of  virtue  ?  '*  Shall  wo  not  continue  in  sin  that  grace 
abound?"  Nay,  STn  the  more  to  have  it  abound  the  more  ? 
And  the  answer  of  the  true  gospel  is  precisely  the  same  in  all 
ages.  In  the  first  place,  as  to  the  justice  of  the  thing.  If 
put  upon  that  ground  none  can  be  saved,  for  none  deserve  it  ; 
all  have  sinned.  But  if  Jesus  Christ  have  satisfied  divine 
justice  for  all  that  let  him  represent  them,  then  justice  is 
magnified  and  the  law  made  honourable. 

And  as  to  the  danger  to  virtue  from  salvation  by  grace 
without  works,  Jesus  prefers  to  risk  his  government  on  the 
love  of  the  souls  won  by  his  love  to  obedience.  And  besides, 
the  provision  which  he  has  made  for  their  pardon  and  justifica- 
tion, as  righteous  before  God,  includes  also  a  provision  to  secure 
their  newness  of  life, — those  to  whom  there  is  now  no  con- 
demnation, because  in  Christ  Jesus,  "  walk  not  after  the  flesh 
but  after  the  spirit." 

Sixth,  his  self-righteousness  and  selfish  exacting  spirit. 
"  Lo  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee,  neither  transgressed 
I  at  any  time."  And  all  this  perfection  boasted  of  while  in 
the  very  act  of  offering  insult  and  violence  to  every  impulse 
of  a  father's  heart,  by  rebuking,  as  ethically  wrong,  his  joy  over 
a  son  restored :  is  this  no  sin  ?  I  have  not  space  left  to  dwell 
upon  this  very  remarkable  feature  of  all  ethical  religion ;  its 
self-righteous  assumption  to  rebuke  the  justice  and  fitness  of 
the  loving  impulses  of  the  Infinite  Father ;  its  assumption  to 
itself  of  a  perfect  integrity  while  in  the  very  act  of  putting 
wrong  and  contempt  upon  God  ;  its  commercial  spirit  that 
seeks  to  pay  its  own  way  into  God's  presence  and  favour,  yet 
relying  chiefly  upon  driving  a  sharp  bargain,  to  gai  i  the  maxi- 


PORTRAIT    OF    THE    ETHICAL    KKLIGIONISM.       247 

mum  of  glory  for  the  minimum  market  price  ;  its  substitution 
for  the  humble  petition,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner," 
and  the  plea  "  Make  me,  all  unworthy  to  be  called  thy  son, 
only  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants ;"  the  exacting  demand — 
''  I  have  served  thee  many  a  year," — "  Give  me  a  kid  that  I 
may  make  merry  Avith  my  friends  !" 

Seventh,  not  less  worthy  of  note  is  the  effrontery  and 
ingratitude  and  falsehood  upon  which  the  representative  of 
the  ethical  gospels  founds  his  argument.  "  Lo  these  many 
years  have  I  served  thee  and  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid !" 
And  all  this  in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  father,  before  the  prodi- 
gal departed,  had  "  divided  tinto  them  Jus  living'^ — doubtless 
assigning  to  this  one  his  full  half  of  the  estate  with  the  under- 
standing that  he  is  to  be  sole  heir — since  saith  he  "  all  that  I 
have  is  thine  !"  Yet  all  this  is  nothing ! 
\  And  is  not  this  the  very  falsehood  and  ingratitude  that 
underlies  all  these  legaUstic  claims  to  eternal  life  ?  They 
uniformly  forget,  in  their  zeal  against  the  injustice  of  salva- 
tion wholly  of  grace — irrespective  of  the  works  they  boast  of, 
that  God  has  already  rewarded  very  fairly  and  fully  their 
moralities,  their  charities,  their  abstinence  from  the  sensualities 
of  the  prodigal.  "  Where  is  the  reward  and  encouragement 
of  all  our  self-restraint  and  virtuous  acts,  and  charitable 
deeds,"  say  they,  "  if  after  all,  publicans  and  sinners  shall 
enter  heaven,  merely  on  accepting  the  offer."  Jesus  answers 
all  such,  saying,  "  Yerily  I  say  unto  you,  ye  have  your 
reward."  If  God's  power  is  to  be  measured  and  determined 
upon  the  principle  of  ''a  fair  day's  v>'agcs  for  a  fair  day's 
work,"  then  hath  he  not  already  fairly  paid  ?  Hath  he  not 
fairly  "  divided  the  living"  between  you  and  the  prodigals  ? 
Ye  men  of  all  the  virtues,  moralities  and  respectabihties,  have 
ye  not  been  all  the  while  enjoying  his  estate  in  the  life  that 
now  is  ;  and  all  the  comforts  which  his  generous  hand  strewed 
around  you  ?     Have  not  men  honoured  and  trusted  you,  a-d 


248        SALVATION    ON    GROUNDS    EVANGELICAL. 

the  reward  of  3^0111-  integrity,  thrift  and  economy  ?  Have  not 
men  applauded  and  idolized  you  because  of  jour  wise  philan- 
thropic deeds,  or  your  distinguished  intellectual  attainments  ? 
And  yet,  on  seeing  the  sovereign  grace  of  God  bestowing  his 
kindness  on  pubhcans  and  sinners,  ye  say,  '•  We  have  served 
bim  and  have  received  nothing."  Is  this  your  lofty  integrity ; 
your  fair  dealing  toward  God  ?  Will  ye  take  the  full  and 
generous  wages  for  the  service  in  the  life  that  is,  and  then 
demand  a  monopoly  in  the  life  to  come  also  ?  Shame  on  such 
integrity ! 

How  wonderful  this  portraiture  of  the  cold,  calculating,  self- 
justifying  gospel  according  to  ethics  ! 

But  not  less  wonderful  is  the  profound  and  annihilating 
response,  with  the  re-utterance  of  the  great  truth  he  had 
before  been  illustrating  through  the  three  parables  of  1  lis  dis- 
course :  '•'  Thy  brother  was  dead  and  is  alive  agahi.'^  It  is 
not  a  case  to  be  measured  ])y  your  ethical  calculations  I  It 
is  a  case  of  life  and  death,  that  arouses  every  holy  impulse  of 
the  heart.  Ethical  philosophy  will  do  very  well  in  the  sphere 
of  the  natural ;  but  how  shall  it  undertake  to  settle  the  terms 
and  the  price  for  a  resurrection  from  the  dead  ? 

Brethren,  this  is  our  short  answer  to  all  the  scofts  and  sneers, 
whether  rationalistic  or  ritualistic,  that  malign  us  as  enthusaists 
and  fanatics,  because  we  preach  a  gospel  to  publicans  and 
sinners,  and  find  our  souls  stirred  by  its  success.  Thy 
''  brother  was  dead  and  is  alive  again."  The  scoffers  have 
their  scoffs  simply  because  of  their  profound  ignorance  of  the 
true  condition  of  man  before  God,  as  vile  and  guilty  and  con- 
demned already — "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins;"  of  the  true 
nature  of  that  power  which  raises  him  to  newness  of  life  ;  of 
the  true  nature  of  the  emotions  in  the  soul  thus  rescued  as  a 
brand  from  the  burning.  If  there  were  nothing  more  serious 
than  the  occasional  aberration  of  a  fine,  noble,  ingenuous  na- 
then  all  our  zeal  would  indeed  be  fanatical.    But  this  con- 


rURTRAIT    OF    THE    ETHICAL    KELIGIOXISM.       249 

version  of  a  sinner  is  a  mighty  work  of  the  power  that  first 
called  light  out  of  darkness  ;  a  wonder  of  mercy  in  raising  a 
dead  soul  out  of  an  eternal  hell,  to  restore  it  to  an  eternal 
heaven  ?  Surely  ''  It  is  meet  that  wo  make  merry  and  be 
glad  thereat ''' 


DISCOURSE  XII. 

THE   AWARD    OF    THE   JUDGMENT   TO    COME   TO   BE    MADE   ON 
PllIXCIPLES   NOT  ETHICAL   BUT   EVANGELICAL. 

Matthew  xxv.  31-46. — "When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory, 
and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his 
glory  ;  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations ;  and  he  shall  separate 
them  from  one  another  ;  as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats 
and  he  shall  set  his  sheep  on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats  on  the  left.  Then 
shall  the  king  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand.  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  inherit  tl;e  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world  :  For  I  was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat ;  I  was  thirsty  and 
yo  gave  me  drink;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  naked  and  ye 
clothed  me  ;  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me  ;  T  was  in  prison  and  ye  came 
vnto  me. 

Verily  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least  of  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me,  &c. 

Such  is  the  Avonderful  conclusion  of  the  wonderful  discourse 
which  Jesus  delivered,  privately,  to  his  disciples  as  thoy  sat 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  day  before  his  betrayal.  It  is 
a  discourse  embodying  more  real  knowledge  of  the  way, 
and  to  what  end  men  live,  of  the  law  of  existence  under 
which  men  live,  and  of  the  final  results  and  eternal  destinies 
of  humanity,  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  tomes  of  all  the  unevan- 
gelical  schools  in  the  world.  And  such  is  the  logical  unity  of 
idea  which  runs  through  its  lofty  generalizations,  binding  all 
its  varied  views  of  the  relations  of  humanity  into  one  vast 
argument,  that  the  power  of  the  vdiole  is  concentrated  upon 
this  peroration  of  that  judgment  to  come,  which  shall  reach 
back,  and  take  fast  hold  of,  all  the  impulses  aud  activities  of 
the  life  that  now  is. 

In  answer  to  their  inquiries,   "  When  shall  these  things 


252    THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL- 

(the  destruction  of  Jerusalem)  be  ?  and  what  shall  be  the 
sign  of  thy  coming  and  of  the  end  of  the  world  ?"  he  narrates 
prophetically,  the  events  which  shall  precede  and  the  circum- 
stances which  shall  attend  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  judg- 
ment which  is  to  close  up  the  old  dispensation  with  the  approach- 
ing destruction  of  Jerusalem,  its  centre  ;  and  also  the  events 
which  shall  precede  and  the  circumstances  of  the  judgment — 
of  which  the  former  is  a  type — that^  shall  close  up  the  next, 
and  last  dispensation,  with  convulsions  which  shall  shatter  the 
great  temple  of  nature  itself  and  leave  not  one  stone  upon 
another. 

By  his  favourite  method  of  the  parable — that  logical  two- 
edged  sword  piercing  to  the  soul,  at  the  same  time  through 
the  imagination  and  the  reason — he  develops  the  relation  of  all 
life  under  this  last  dispensation  to  the  judgment  which  is  to 
follow  it,  and,  at  the  same  time,  in  order  to  compel  men's 
attention  to  these  principles,  through  their  powers  of  associa- 
tions he  devises  a  system  of  spiritual  mnemonics  that  hangs 
his  lessons  of  judgment  to  come,  here,  for  the  husbandman,  on 
the  fig-tree  by  his  garden  wall,  where  he  walks  at  evening, 
here,  for  the  household  in  the  apartments  of  the  servants ;  here, 
for  heedless  and  impulsive  youth,  and  for  all  the  thoughtless 
pleasure-seekers,  amid  the  brilliant  scenes  of  the  marriage 
festivities,  and  rejoicings  ;  here,  for  the  eager  calculating  men 
of  business,  amid  the  bustling  activities  of  trade  and  finances, 
and  on  the  tables  of  the  money-lender  in  the  exchange. 

This  life,  as  relating  to  the  ministers  left  in  charge  of  his 
Church,  is  symbolized  as  that  of  the  servant  faithful  to  execute 
the  orders  of  the  absent  master,  with  an  eye  ever  watching 
his  coming  ;  or  of  the  unfaithful  servant,  forgetful  of  his  duty, 
and  of  the  day  of  reckoning.  The  inner  life  in  the  souls  of 
christian  people  is  set  forth  as  that  of  virgins  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  the  bridegroom — all  alike  asleep  from  his  long  delay ; 
l)ut  some,  thoughtful  to  have  oil  in  their  lamps  ready  to  join 


CONXIXTIOX  WITH  THE    DISCOURSE  OF  JUDGMENT.    2ou 

tho  torch-light  procession;  otliers,  thoughtless,  having  none. 
This  inner  hfe,  as  also  developing  itself  in  outward  activities, 
is  symbolized  as  the  life  of  servants,  factors  with  entrusted 
capital,  who  shall  render  it  back  with  great  increase,  and 
r(^ceivo  honour  and  applause  ;  or  without  increase  and  receive 
shame  and  everlasting  contempt. 

Having  in  this  amazing  generalization  presented  tlie  pro- 
phetic history,  not  only  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  but 
of  the  signs  which  shall  distinguish  the  w^holc  subsequent  life 
of  humanity,  and  its  relations  to  the  13fe  to  come,  the  divine 
teacher  finds  a  peroration  not  unworthy  the  grandeur  of  his  high 
argument.  AVith  the  easy,  unlabouring  movement  of  an  iniinitc 
mind,  he  presents  the  scenes  of  the  judgment  which  shall  close 
up  the  last,  as  the  judgment  upon  Jerusalem  closed  up  the 
previous  dispensation.  And  this  in  a  manner  not  only  to  burn 
them  indelibly  into  the  imagination,  but  bring  their  infinite 
truths  within  reach  of  the  humblest  human  understandinir. 

The  hour,  betokened  by  all  the  previous  signs  of  his  coming, 
suddenly  bursts,  unanticipated,  upon  the  living  generations. 
The  hand  of  the  Almighty  lets  go  its  hold  ;  and  the  beauti- 
ful universe  drops  into  general  chaos.  The  sun  is  turned  into 
darkness ;  and  the  moon  into  blood  ;  and  the  stars  fall  from 
their  places.  The  elemental  fires  burst  forth  ;  the  heavens 
as  a  parched  scroll  roll  up :  and  lo !  behind  the  rolled  up 
screen,  the  "  Son  of  man  is  come  in  his  glory  !"  Spirits  hoaiy 
with  the  revolutions  of  eternity  attend  him  with  reverent  awe  ; 
and  the  sons  of  God,  who  shouted  for  joy  at  the  birth  of  Time, 
are  here  to  stand  with  Ilim  at  Time's  infinite  grave.  The  Son 
of  man  is  come  now,  as  a  king  and  judge,  to  mount  his  glorious 
throne  of  judgment.  At  his  command  the  archangel  sounds 
the  trumpet  for  the  opening  of  the  assize,  and  summoning  the 
earth  to  give  up  the  imprisoned  dead,  and  the  sea  the  dead 
that  are  in  it.  The  sharp  summons  echoes  through  all  the 
wide  domain  of  the  world.     "In  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling, 


254    THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

•of  an  eye"  the  living  change  the  mortal  for  the  immortal ; 
and  ringing  through  the  sepulchres  of  the  earth  and  the  deep 
caverns  of  the  sea,  the  summons  pierces  the  dull  cold  ear  of 
death.  It  disinherits  them  all.  The  earth  heaves;  its 
charnel  houses  rattle,  its  tombs  burst.  The  sea  is  stirred  to 
its  depths,  and  its  surface  hidden  by  the  myriads  of  the 
sleepers  rising  from  it.  The  air  is  alive  with  spirits,  rehabi- 
litating in  the  spiritual  bodies  which  have  sprung  from  the 
natural  bodies  as  their  germ.  They  gather  in  innumerable 
array — all  the  generations  which  the  stream  of  time  has  swept 
into  the  grave — re-awakened  and  re>invested  around  that 
"  throne  of  his  glory !"  They  stand  under  the  heart-searching 
eye  of  Omniscience,  trembling  as  the  leaves  of  an  aspen  forest 
in  the  twilight,  with  the  struggling  soul  emotions  of  hope  and 
fear,  of  confident  assurance  or  trembling  apprehension,  of 
glad  expectation  or  remorseful  despair. 

"  And  he  shall  separate  them  from  one  another,  as  a  shep 
herd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats."  It  needs  but*  a 
single  glance  of  the  judge's  eye,  in  this  court,  to  discriminate 
the  real  character  of  every  one  of  this  "  great  multitude  that 
no  man  can  number. ' '  The  decision  depends  not  upon  evidence 
.of  facts,  but  evidence  of  consciousness  anterior  to  the  facts. 
The  quibbles  and  arts  of  the  special  pleader  are  unknown  at 
this  bar,  for  they  avail  nothing  to  delude  the  judgment  of  far- 
seeing  Omniscience.  The  black  guilt  of  the  sov.l  that  never 
uttered  itself  in  word  and  act,  or  that  hid  most  securely  from 
the  keenest  scrutiny  of  human  skill,  is  laid  bare,  in  all  its 
deformity,  to  the  instant  glance  of  the  judge.  And  as  he  sees 
so  he  divides  :  and  by  a  line  of  separation  that  crosses  all 
lines  hitherto  run  between  men.  It  divides  between  those  of 
the  same  household,  of  the  same  circle  of  friends,  of  the  same 
neighourhood.  It  puts  a  father  on  the  right,  and  a  son  on  the 
left ;  a  mother  on  the  right,  and  ^  a  daughter  on  the  left ;  a 
sister  on  the  right,  and  a  brother  on  the  left ;  a  wife   on  the 


MISTAKES    ABOUT    THE   JUDGMENT    TEST.        25'j 

right,  and  a  husband  on  the  left :  a  servant  on  the  right  and  a 
master  on  the  left ;  a  peasant  on  the  right,  and  a  prince  on  the 
left. 

With  a  smile  that  lights  up  the  universe,  the  Royal  Judge 
invites  the  one  part,  saying,  "  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you."  It  seems  to  them  as 
a  dream.  They  speak  of  their  unworthiness  of  tliis  unbounded 
mercy ;  but  are  reassured.  Joy  transports  them.  The  trial 
is  ended ;  their  destiny  is  fixed  beyond  possibility  of  further 
change  ;  the  prize  is  won ;  and  the  crown  of  everlasting  joy 
is  on  their  heads. 

But  who  shall  attempt  to  conceive  of,  and  describe  the 
horrors  of  the  multitudes  on  the  left  to  whom,  now  turning,  he 
saith,  "  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared, — 
not  for  you,  but — for  the  devil  and  his  angels," — with  whom 
ye  took  part.  They  remonstrate  and  plead  now  ;  but  it  is  too 
late.  It  is  finished  with  grace,  "  stretching  out  the  hands  all 
the  day ;"  it  is  finished  with  wisdom's  earnest  argument, 
"  lifting  up  her  voice  in  the  streets  and  in  the  cliief  places  of 
concourse:"  it  is  finished  with  mercy  pleadhig  Avith,  and 
weeping  over  the  despisers  of  grace.  Justice  hath  raised 
its  sceptre  and  begun  a  new  reign,  that  knows  no  interposi- 
tion of  "  One  mighty  to  save ;"  and  that  thereiure  must 
endure  for  ever.  Their  groans,  and  wails,  and  thrones  of 
despair  avail  not  now,  even  to  have  "  the  rocks  to  fall  upon 
them,  and  the  hills  to  cover  them,  from  the  face  of  him  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne."  Not  a  ray  of  hope  alleviates  the 
melting  sorrow.  The  farewells  are  no  blessings ;  for  fare- 
well hath  lost  its  meaning ;  since  there  can  be  no  hope  of 
welfare  thereafter.  Terror  sits  enthroned  on  the  brow  of  the 
King,  and,  there  "  remaining  now  no  more  sacrifice  for  sin," 
must  remain  there  forever. 

Contemplating  with  wonder  and  awe  the  appalling  grandeur 
of  this  scene,  wo  are  ready  to  ask  on  what  principle  is  this  vor- 


250    THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

diet  rendered,  of  infiuite  joy  on  the  one  hand  and  mfinite 
^voe  on  the  other  ?  What  heroic  deeds  of  infinite  glory  have 
these  done,  to  merit  that  welcome,  "  Come  ye  blessed  of 
my  Father  ?"  What  crimes  of  infinite  blackness  have  these 
done  ?  What  guilt  inexpiable,  and  of  ineffaceable  stain 
npon  the  soul,  sends  these  away,  under  the  terrific  sentence 
'•  Depart  ye  cursed?"  The  whole  turns  upon  this  principle 
simply,  as  its  pivot. — ''  I  was  hungry,  ye  gave  me  meat ;  and 
ye  did  not.  I  was  thirsty,  ye  gave  me  drink  ;  and  ye  did 
not.  I  was  a  stranger,  ye  took  me  in ;  and  ye  did  not.  I 
■svas  naked,  ye  clothed  me;  and  ye  did  not.  I  was  sick,  ye 
visited  me  ;  and  ye  did  not.  I  was  in  prison,  ye  came  unto 
me  ;  and  ye  did  not." 

But  how  can  such  a  test  have  application  to  all  these 
myriads  of  all  ages  and  generations  ?  Since  only  an  obscure 
portion  of  one  generation  had  ever  seen  the  King,  as  the  man 
of  sorrows,  hungry,  thirsty,  and  friendless  ?  Yes,  but  then 
"  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  the  least  of  my  brethren  ye 
did  it  not  unto  me."  In  this  he  speaks  not  of  the  personal 
Jesus  in  the  flesh,  but  of  the  representative  Jesus,  standing  as 
head  of  that  great  enterprise  of  founding  and  gathering  a 
kingdom  for  himself  out  of  the  wreck  of  "  the  works  of  the 
devil ;"  and  regarding  every  poor  soul,  called  by  divine  grace 
to  join  him,  and  become  a  fellow-citizen  of  the  saints,  as  so 
being  one  with  him  that  what  is  done  to  the  disciple,  because 
he  is  a  disciple,  is  done  unto  the  Lord.  Hence  the  p»rofound 
significance  of  his  saying  to  Judas  and  his  fellow  Apostles 
when  complaining  of  Mary's  waste  of  the  ointment  that  should 
have  been  sold  and  given  to  the  poor,  "  The  poor  ye  have 
always  with  you,"  They  stand  as  my  representatives  conti- 
nually, and  give  opportunity  to  test  your  love  for  me  :  therefore 
grudge  not  to  their  Lord  the  single  offering,  to  him  personally 
of  a  grateful  heart  anointing  him  for  his  burial.  What  ye  do 
unto  the  poor,  the  very  least  of  my  brethren,  is  done  unto  me. 


MISTAKES    ABOUT    THE    .TUDGMEXT    TEST.  257 

*' Yes  " — now  joins  in  with  us  the  delighted  legalist — "  that 
is  just  what  I  have  always  maintained  concerning  the  nature 
and  rewards  of  true  religion.  Precisely  as  I  have  held,  no 
Christ  here  makes  the  wliole  of  religion  to  hinge  upon  good 
works  of  charity  to  the  poor  and  the  suffering.  What  comes 
now  of  this  theory  that  preaches  ever  of  a  new  heart,  and 
holy  affections,  and  faith,  as  the  essence  of  all  religion  ?" 
''  Yes" — chimes  in  the  amiable  worldly  moralist  and  philan- 
thropist— '•  and  while  you  have  been  wrangling  about  your 
creeds  and  worships :  your  doctrines  of  atonement  and  justifi- 
cation by  fliith  and  regeneration ;  about  your  b'turgies,  aiul 
sacraments,  and  forms ;  I  have  been  feeding  and  clothing  the 
hungry  and  naked  poor,  and- visiting  the  friendless  and  the 
pi-isoner.  Nay,  not  content  Avith  individual  effort,  I  have 
organized  charitable  societies  of  men  and  women,  that  have 
poved  far  more  effective  and  useful,  every  way,  than  these 
churches.  Is  it  not,  after  all,  just  as  I  have  maintained — no 
matter  for  behefs  and  creeds  where  a  man  can  show  his  char- 
itable deeds.  "  He  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the 
right  ?" 

But  be  not  so  hasty  in  the  interpretation  of  these  sayingJ? 
of  the  Divine  Teacher,  as  though  they  were  the  mere  word 
chaff  which  the  superficial  sport  with  on  the  surface,  drop- 
ping out  into  the  unseen  depths  the  weighty  kernel  of  truth, 
of  which  the  words  are  but  the  husks.  Such  hasty  interpre- 
ters have  failed  utterly  to  see  the  profound  depths  of  the 
vast  argument  from  which  Jesus  is  now  concentrating  the 
essence  into  this  peroration  of  judgment.  They  forgot 
that  these  are  the  words  of  the  King,  and  relate  to  "the 
Idngdom  prepared  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  ;"  devel- 
oped as  to  its  materials,  through  all  the  ages  of  the  world, 
under  his  leadership,  labours,  suffering  and  superintendence  ; 
and  now  to  be  completed  and  constituted  his  eternal  kingdom. 
And,  therefore,  nothing  that  is  said  here  has  relation  to  acts 

R 


258    THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

except  as  thej  bear  upon  tho  interests  of  that  kingdom,  and 
their  relation  to  him  as  King  thereof.  Thcj  overlook  the 
very  essential  peculiarity  of  this  test — '^  Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  to  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 

You  will  perceive  that,  in  this  regard,  the  test  to  be  applied 
to  the  life  at  the  day  of  judgment  is  thoroughly  evangelical. 
Christ  makes  himself  the  great  turning  point.  "  To  me," 
saith  he,  "  is  your  allegiance  due  ;"  and  as  done  unto  me  have 
all  these  acts  their  peculiar  value.  So  that  the  question 
''  what  think  ye  of  Christ  ?"  is  substantially  the  test  question 
of  the  judgment.  And  the  six  acts  specified  have  their 
moral  and  spiritual  value  not  intrinsically,  but  as  exponential 
of  the  state  of  thought  and  feeling  in  the  soul  concerning 
Christ. 

What  comes  then  of  thy  boasted  good  works  thou  legalist  ? 
Of  what  value  thy  deeds  of  holiness,  Christ  the  ICing  and 
his  kingdom  not  being  in  view  in  the  performance  of  them  ? 
"When  thou  shalt  stand  up  before  the  great  King  and  say, 
"  Lord !  Lord  !  have  I  not  done  wonders  of  goodness — my 
acts  of  piety,  are  they  not  known  of  all  men  ?  My  marvel- 
lous charities,  behold,  are  they  not  written  in  all  the  news- 
papers ?"  Then  shall  the  King  say. — They  were  done  unto 
men,  and  have  their  just  reward  in  the  praise  of  men  :  they 
were  done  for  the  sake  of  self-gratulation  or  to  obtain  the 
luxury  of  praise  in  the  newspapers  and  have  received  their 
reward.  Not  being  done  unto  me,  and  with  an  eye  to  the 
honour  of  my  kingdom,  they  have  no  value  in  this  inquest. 
"  Depart  from  me,  I  never  knew  thee — thou  hast  never 
known  me  !"  And  in  surprise  and  terror  shalt  thou  pass  to 
the  left  hand. 

And  thou,  amiable  world-moralist,  so  much  to  be  loved  and 
applauded  of  men  for  thy  noble-heartedness  and  generosity  ; 
for  thine  acts  are  indeed  praiseworthy,  as  springing  simply 
from  the  amiable  impulses  of  thy  nature,  instead  of  the  cold 


MISTAKES    ABOUT    THE    JUDGMENT    TEST.         250 

calculations  of  self-riglitcous  legalism.  But  alas !  if  thy 
deeds  are  done  only  as  unto  men,  from  the  natural  impulses 
of  humanity,  whatever  may  be  their  value  otherwise — how 
can  they  be  of  any  account  in  this  inquest  of  what  has  been 
done  as  unto  Christ  ?  These  amiable  qualities  of  nature 
cannot  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  the  affectionate  loyalty  to 
Christ !  There  is  this  fatal  lack  of  one  thing  yet,  in  all 
thy  gifts  of  broad  to  the  hungry,  and  drink  to  the  tliirsty, 
and  cbthing  to  the  naked — that  all  are  given  not  as  unto 
Clu'ist !  How  shall  accomplishments  of  mind  and  heart  or 
deeds  of  thy  life  atone  for  the  crime  of  neglecting  such  a 
God  and  Saviour  ? 

And  thou,  noble  model-man  adorned  mth  refinements  and 
moralities  of  life.  What  though  thou  followest  after  stainless 
honour ;  shrinkest  from  all  meanness,  as  from  the  leprosy ; 
bhunnest  all  unjust  gains ;  livest  the  patriot  and  philanthro- 
pist, striving  to  ease  the  wounds  of  tortured  humanity  and  to 
exalt  the  masses  above  the  clouds  of  ignorance  ? — Nay,  what 
though  thou  aspirest,  with  noble  ambition,  to  rise  thyself  and 
bask  in  the  sunshine  of  all  attainable  knowdedge  and  truth  ? 
Why,  for  any  of  these,  or  all  of  these,  shalt  thou  expect  to 
pass  unchallenged  by  the  Son  of  man,  the  King  from  whom 
thou  hast  stood  aloof;  nor  done  any  of  thy  noble  acts,  nor 
made  any  of  thy  lofty  attainments  Avith  refei^ence  to  liim  ? 

The  test  of  judgment,  therefore,  is  thus  plainly  seen  to  be 
thoroughly  evangelical  in  principle. 

But  another  is  now  ready  to  ask.  Is  this  not  a  somewhat 
loose  inquisition  into  the  obedience  rendered  the  King  ?  A 
■wQYj  slight  re\dew  of  the  grand  results  of  a  life  ?  Is  this 
then  all  ?  Is  it  only  these  six  acts  of  charity  that  shall  be 
brought  out,  for  and  against  a  man,  in  the  great  day  which 
tries  the  issues  for  eternity?  Is  then,  this  book  of  God's 
remembrance  filled  up  with  entries  of  the  most  ordinary  acts 
of  common  humanity  ;  which  nature  would  teach  a  savage  to 


260   THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

do  ?  Acts  of  value  scarcely  sufficient  to  be  entered  as  items 
in  a  tradesman's  daily  journal ;  and  certainly  of  no  higher 
importan'ce  than  to  be  entered,  aggregately,  as  "  sundries'* 
in  his  ledger  ? 

This  inquiry  grows,  again,  out  of  that  narrow  and  shallow 
literalism  in  the  interpretation  of  the  word  of  God,  which, 
forgetting  that  spiritual  thoughts  can  be  conveyed  only  in  the 
language  of  analogy  and  approximation,  catches  at  the  mere 
words — the  husks  containing  the  thought,  and  manipulates 
and  tears  at  the  husk  till  the  thought  is  dropped  out  and  lost. 
So  the  enemies  of  Jesus,  when  on  earth,  blundered  continu- 
ally concerning  his  meaning  ;  as  w^ien  he  spake  of  his  king- 
dom and  of  himself  as  a  king ;  or  when  he  spake  of  the 
temple  of  his  body  ;  or  when  he  spake  of  himself  as  ''  the 
living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven."  And  so  even 
his  disciples  accepted  too  literally  his  words,  and  supposed 
they  might  sit,  one  on  his  right  hand  and  the  other  on  his 
left,  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  such  error  here  is,  at 
once,  made  manifest  even  from  a  careful  study  of  his  words. 

The  mistake  here  arises  from  taking  this  enumeration  of 
acts  as  a  random  list  of  any  six,  as  specimens,  out  of  a  thou- 
sand acts  that  might  have  been  named.  Whereas  it  will  be 
found,  on  careful  study  of  them,  that,  with  divine  skill,  Jesus 
here  exhausts  all  the  categories  of  heart  testing  acts,  in  this 
six-fold  classification ;  and  that  the  six  things  which,  on  super- 
ficial glance,  appear  to  be  loosely  cited  specimens  out  of  the 
numberless  acts  of  the  merest  charity  and  humanity,  recog- 
nized as  duties  by  the  veriest  savage,  constitute,  perhaps,  as 
severe  a  test  of  gospel  faith  and  Christian  character  as  is  to 
be  found  anywhere  in  the  Scriptures. 

You  will  observe  that  the  six  things  here. set  forth  are 
peculiar,  in  that  they  cover  the  six  phases  of  human  misery ; 
and  that  every  human  affliction  that  arises  may  be  referred 
to  one  or  other  of  these  six  categories — hunger,  thirst,  naked- 


THE  TEST  LOGICALLY  PERFECT  AND  EVANGELICAL.  20 1 

ness,  sickness,  friendlessness,  and  restraint  of  lil)crty.  They 
embrace  the  six  germinal  elements  of  all  necessary  consola- 
tions of  human  life — meat,  drink,  clothing,  health,  human 
fellowship,  and  the  social  privileges  of  freedom.  Tliey  em- 
brace the  six  things  which  it  is  the  great  aim  of  all  human 
activity  to  enjoy,  and  of  all  human  care  to  avoid  the  loss  of 
The  labours  of  life,  in  all  its  phases  of  occupation  in  the  field, 
in  the  work-shop,  in  the  pursuits  of  commerce,  in  the  pursuits 
of  learning,  are  directed  to  the  securing  of  meat,  drink,  clotli- 
ing,  health,  friends,  freedom ;  and  to  avoiding  the  sorrows  of 
hunger,  thirst,  nakedness,  loss  of  health,  loss  of  friends,  or 
loss  of  freedom.  So  that  Christ  hath  here  most  wonderfully 
grouped,  in  exhaustive  classification,  at  the  same  time,  all 
human  desires,  all  human  calamities  ;  and,  therefore,  all 
phases  of  temptation  to  human  nature. 

Now  in  each  of  these  states  of  calamity  he  assumes  him- 
self to  have  been,  representatively,  in  his  brethren  of  the 
kingdom ;  and  to  have  passed  under  the  eye  of  every  one  of 
the  great  multitude  gathered  around  his  judgment  throne  ; 
and  the  test  he  applies  to  every  one  is  "  How  didst  thou  act, — 
cherishing  Christ,  or  neglecting  him  ?  for  Christ,  or  against 
him?"  Or,  in  the  fuller  statement  of  the  point,  Christ  hath 
founded  a  kingdom  on  earth ;  and  hath  set  on  foot  a  contest 
with  the  god  of  this  world  with  his  world  kingdoms ;  he  hath 
associated  with  himself  in  the  work  those  his  brethren,  the 
redeemed  ones,  as  fast  as  snatched  from  the  burning.  In  the 
prosecution  of  liis  enterprise,  every  form  of  human  calamity 
is  encountered  ;  and  he  will  make  it  the  test,  Avhat  part  each 
one  took  in  the  conflict,  whether  sympathizing  with  and  aiding 
him,  or  coldly  neglecting  him  ;  and  this  as  evinced  by  the 
acts  of  the  life.  For  though  he  reads  the  heart,  and  needs 
not  the  evidence  of  overt  acts  for  himself,  yet  it  is  meet  that 
his  brethren,  who  can  judge  only  from  the  acts,  shall  see  the 
propriety  of  the  award. 


262  THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

Words  give  utterance  to  the  thoughts  and  feeUngs  of  the 
soul,  but  may  be  false  reporters ;  'deeds  attest  the  honesty  of 
the  words ;  and  affliction  shows  the  sincerity  of  deeds. 
Therefore  a  true  test  of  a  man's  spirit  must  embrace  the 
test  of  what  affliction  ho  will  endure,  or  what  loss  he  will 
suffer  to  sustain  in  affliction,  as  well  as  the  evidence  of  the 
deeds  or  the  words.  For  any  cause  will  find  friends  enough 
i.c  aid  it,  by  both  word  and  deed,  while  it  is  prospering  and 
running  with  the  popular  current ;  but  when  it  is  struggling, 
and  buffetting  the  waves  of  affliction,  and  needs  sacrifices  to 
sustain  it,  then  none  but  its  true  friends  will  stand  fast. 
There  is,  therefore,  a  divine  philosophy  in  this  statement  of 
the  test  that  seems  so  artless  and  simple  at  first  sight.  It 
can  be  neither  evaded  nor  counterfeited ;  it  can  be  applied 
alike  to  every  rank  and  condition  of  men ;  it  fairly  attests  the 
real  state  of  the  heart  before  God. 

0 !  if  Jesus  had  made  his  test,  as  some  would  have  it,  a 
question  of  orthodoxy  of  forms  of  belief ;  then  every  sound- 
headed  student  of  theology,  who  logically  drew  forth  from  the 
word  the  grand  system  of  doctrine  embodied  in  it ;  every 
skillful  logician,  who  had  transfixed  the  assailants  of  the 
system  on  his  keenly  pointed  dilemmas ;  every  fierce  and 
bloody  defender  of  the  faith  who  had  "  proved  his  doctrine 
orthodox,  by  apostolic  blows  and  knocks,"  would  pass  trium- 
phantly to .  the  right  hand.  But  the  multitude,  to  whom 
carefulness  about  meat  and  drink  and  physical  comforts  had 
left  no  time  to  weigh  these  nice  distinctions ;  the  unlearned 
and  ignorant  without  capacity  to  consult  or  comprehend  the 
learned  faculties  and  systems  of  Divinity  ;  the  children  of 
poverty  and  sorrow  whose  heart  burdens  were  too  great  for 
the  free  play  of  the  understanding  among  these  high  argu- 
ments ;  all  these  would  have  been  excluded.  The  kingdom 
of  Heaven  would  then  have  beconje  a  university  of  learned 
dogmatists  only. 


THE    TEST    APPLICABLE    TO    TIILS    AND    ALL    ACES.    203 

Or  if  tlic  test,  as  others  would  have  it,  liad  been  tlic  frames, 
feelings,  excitements,  and  convulsions  of  the  inner  man  only ; 
then  the  self-confident  rabble  of  enthusiasts  would  rush  for- 
ward from  the  cells  of  the  hermits,  from  the  cages  of  the 
mad-house,  from  the  noisy  halls  of  ftmaticism,  even  from  the 
revelling  places  of  the  drunkard,  and  the  bloody  dens  of  the 
holy  inquisition ;  all  pleading  the  holy  frames  and  deep  con- 
victions of  their  souls.  Every  visionary,  every  dreamer, 
every  self-deluded  prophet  and  false  Christ,  every  self- 
righteous  Pharisee,  every  malignant,  fanaticalJezebel,  would 
have  rushed  at  once  to  the  right  hand  ;  and  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  would  become  an  eternal  bedlam. 

Or  if,  as  still  others  would  have  it,  the  test  of  judgment 
had  been  devised  to  measure  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  offer- 
ing or  the  greatness  of  the  labour  done,  or  of  suffering  endured, 
how  many  a  selfish  miser  or  self-indulgent  Dives  would  have 
been  glad,  on  a  death  bed,  to  compromise  the  matter  by  the 
gift  of  Tuitold  treasure  that  could  no  longer  minister  enjoy- 
ment, in  exchange  for  a  title  to  admission  to  that  kingdom  ? 
How  many  in  high  station  would  willingly  undergo  all  labours, 
and  put  their  kingdoms  and  empires  all  to  labour,  for  the  sake 
of  that  title  ?  How  many  would  cheerfully  undergo  all  pen- 
ances and  self-mortifications  and  tortures,  as  atonement  to 
offer  for  a  life  of  wickedness,  on  that  day  of  trial? 

But  '^  to  the  poor  the  Gospel  is  preached ;"  and  with 
reference  to  the  poorest  is  the  test  devised  on  that  day.  Had 
it  been  any  thing  beyond  a  bit  of  bread,  a  cup  of  water,  a 
sick  visit,  how  large  a  body  of  the  truest,  and  stablest  of 
Christ's  friends  must  fail  to  stand  the  trial  ? 

It  may  be  asked,  however,  in  the  last  place,  if  this  test  can 
possibly  be  interpreted  as  universal ;  seeing  that  it  seems  to 
refer  to  ages  of  suffering  and  persecution  ?  How  shall  Chris- 
tians in  the  ages  and  counti-ies  of  the  Church's  prosperity 
prove  themselves  whether  they  be  ready  to  abide  the  test  of 


264  THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

judgment,  since  only  rare  and  exceptional  cases  of  suffering 
for  Christ  can  fall  under  their  notice  ? 

This  difficulty  is  apparent  only,  not  real.  For  a  little 
reflection  will  satisfy  you  that  the  test  is  equally  applicable 
whether  to  a  sufiering  Church  in  ages  of  persecution,  or  a 
Avorking  Church,  in  days  of  peace  and  prosperity.  By  the 
very  nature  of  the  Christian  life,  causing  ''•  him  that  heareth 
to  say  come,"  as  well  as  by  Christ's  special  command,  every 
Christian,  and  the  Church  of  Christ  are,  essentially,  propag- 
andist. While,  therefore,  in  the  one  case,  the  test  is  what 
one  will  suffer  for  Christ,  or  how  far  he  is  in  sympathy  with 
those  that  suffer ;  in  the  other  case  it  is  Avhat  one  will  do  for 
Christ,  and  how  far  he  is  in  sympathy  with  every  effort  to 
call  sinners  and  edify  saints.  And  in  this  work  he  shall  have 
full  opportunity  to  minister  to  the  Avants  of  Christ's  brethren. 
For  it  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  propagandism — 
the  missionary  work — is  an  essential  development  of  the  spi- 
ritual life.  Christ  assumes  that  every  man  who  is  Christian 
enough  to  praj,  will  pray  "Thy  Kingdom  come  I"  and  of 
course  will  labour  earnestly  for  that  which  he  prays  for.  And 
in  view  of  that  feature  of  the  spiritual  life,  Christ  appointed 
among  the  ordinances  of  worship  in  his  kingdom  the  "  collec- 
tion for  the  poor  saints"  as  a  means  of  grace.  And  Paul 
thanked  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift  in  giving  this  grace  to 
the  Church  of  Macedonia,  for  the  saying,  "thanks  be  unto 
God  for  his  unspeakable  gift,"  was  in  allusion  to  their  degree 
of  piety  as  evinced  by  their  gifts  to  the  poor. 

The  obscurity  which  may  exist  in  your  minds  touching  the 
application  of  this  test  in  our  age  arises  very  largely  from  the 
fact  that  our  usages  and  methods  of  providing  means  in  sup- 
port of  Christ's  Kingdom  have  separated  that  provision  too 
widely  from  our  acts  of  worship ;  so  that  the  test  which 
Christ  arranged  for  his  people,  in  their  worship,  has  been 
practically  removed  from  them.     Instead  of  the  contributions 


THE    TEST    APPLICABLE    TO    THIS    AXD    ALL    AGES    2G5 

for  tko  support  of  tlio  gospel  ])cing  the  spontaneous  offerings 
of  hearts  in  which  "f^iith  Avorketli  by  love,"  and  from  i)urely 
devotional  impulses,  in  many  cases  funds  arc  received  from 
the  state,  raised  by  compulsory  tax :  in  others,  largely,  from 
endowments  which  the  mistaken  forethought  of  Christian 
people  have  laid  up  in  store  to  support  the  gospel  among 
their  children,  as  if  afraid  to  trust  the  power  of  God's  grace 
to  confer  faith  and  love  enough  upon  the  children  to  support 
the  gospel  for  themselves.  And  even  where  the  contribution 
is  voluntary,  the  giving  is  separated  from  the  worshij),  both 
in  idea  and  in  fact,  and  laid  upon  the  wealthy  as  any  other 
claim  in  ordinary  business  transactions.  Thus  the  gifts  are 
not  the  tests  of  faith  and  love  in  those  who  give,  while  the 
humble  poor  of  Christ's  flock  have,  in  the  worship,  little  or  no 
opportunity  of  exercising  the  grace  of  fellowship  at  all.  Nay 
so  entirely  has  this  great  idea  of  Christ's  appointment  in  the 
worship  of  the  Church;  been  lost  sight  of,  that  to  many  the 
collection  dt  worship  is  becoming  positively  offensive,  as 
unsuitable  to  the  sacredness  of  public  devotion.  And  to 
'"'^se^7e  the  dislike  to  frequent  collections  among  many  good 
people  might  almost  suggest  the  painful  suspicion  that  the 
nature  of  their  business  transactions  during  the  week  was 
sucli  that  the  sound  of  money  in  the  house  of  God  on  the 
Sabbath  awakened  disagreeable  associations.  When  our 
present  usages  shall  give  place  to  more  of  the  simplicity  of 
the  gospel,  in  this  regard,  and  a  nearer  conformity  to  Christ's 
order  in  his  Church,  then  will  the  outward  prosperitj^  and 
success  of  the  Church  become  more  truly  exponential  of  the 
degree  of  fiiith  and  real  piety  which  animates  tlie  people. 
And  then  will  be  seen  and  felt,  in  all  its  power,  the  significance 
of  Christ's  choice  of  this  peculiar  form  of  a  universal  test  at 
the  judgment. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  application  of  it 
is  the  only  one  for  the  Church  in  this  age.    I  have  made  special 


2GG    THE  JUDGMENT  TEST  EVANGELICAL  NOT  ETHICAL. 

reference  to  this  application,  simply  because  the  usages  of  th& 
churches,  at  present,  seem  calculated  to  obscure  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  the  principles  of  this  application.  In  all  condi- 
tions of  the  Church,  it  will  be  found  that,  in  some  form,  one 
or  other  of  these  six  evils  is  the  temptation  to  stand  aloof  from 
Christ  and  his  cause.  Though  not  literally  in  fear  of  hunger 
and  thirst,  jet,  because  of  their  eagerness  to  provide  for,  or 
enjoy,  the  luxuries  that  minister  to  appetite,  men  have  neither 
time  nor  heart  to  attend  to  the  call  of  the  gospel.  Though 
not  fearing  suffering  from  want  of  clothing,  yet  innumerable 
luxuries  of  fashion  and  dress  prove  a  snare  to  the  soul. 
Though  not  literally  to  be  made  a  stranger  by  casting  in  the 
lot  with  the  people  of  God,  yet  it  involves,  perhaps  the  loss  of 
one's  rightful  place  in  the  affections  of  the  godless  family,  or 
in  the  esteem  of  godless  friends.  And  so  of  many  other 
forms  of  these  temptations.  The  world  still  loves  not  Christ 
and  his  precepts,  and  therefore  "  they  that  live  godly  in 
Christ  Jesus  must  suffer  persecution." 

The  walks  of  business  are  full  of  maxims  of  trade  and 
usages  openly  at  war  with  the  spirit  of  Christ's  precepts. 
The  world  of  fashion  and  pleasure  is  equally  ruled  by  tastes  and 
maxims  and  usages  contrary  to  the  precepts  of  Christ.  And 
the  Christian  who  stands  manfully  for  Christ  will  find  some 
inconvenience,  some  loss,  and  much  scorn.  Christ  brings 
his  judgment  into  close  companionship  with  these  e very-day 
issues,  and  will  demand  whether  you  were  ready  to  endure 
the  cross  for  his  sake,  or  stand  by  those  faithfully  who  had 
to  endure  hardships  for  his  sake. 

But  I  cannot  dwell  upon  the  various  forms  of  applying 
Christ's  test.  I  have  aimed  to  show  from  the  connection 
that  the  test  here  enunciated  is  designed  to  reach  back  and 
cover  our  life  under  the  whole  gospel  dispensation ;  that  it  is 
a  test  thoroughly  evangelical  requiring  works  simply  as  the 
Oiitgrowth  and  the  evidence  of  a  living  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 


THE    TEST    ArPLICABLE    TO    THIS    AND    ALL    AGES.    2G7 

in  the  soul ;  that  the  test  is  absolutely  universal  in  its  reach 
even  to  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart ;  that  its  pecu- 
liar form  renders  it  equally  applicable  to  a  suffering,  or  to 
a  peaceful,  working  Church. 

And  now,  brethren,  I  must  leave  you  to  make  your  own 
application,  personally,  of  the  great  truths  here  taught  by 
him  who  is  our  King  and  who  will  be  our  Judge.  Remember 
that  this  is  a  very  present  matter  with  every  one  of  us  person- 
ally, since  it  is  the  e very-day  impulses  and  acts  that  now 
distinguish  our  life  which  shall  tlien  be  tested  ;  and  a  few 
more  days,  or  years,  at  best,  will  settle  the  issue.  "  He 
that  is  unjust  shall  be  unjust  still ;  he  that  is  filthy  shall  bo 
filthy  still ;  and  he  that  is  holy  shall  be  holy  still."  The 
testimony  in  the  case  shall  be  sealed  up  then  for  the  verdict 
of  that  great  judgment.  If  we  would  receive  the  Avelcome 
'"  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father  "  in  that  dread  day,  then 
it  behooves  those  of  us  who  have  been  left  in  charge  of  the 
Master's  house  to  be  faithful  in  executing  the  trust,  ever 
watching  for  his  return,  that  he  find  us  neither  sleeping  at  our 
post,  ]ior  acting  a  faithless  part.  It  behooves  you  who  watch 
for  the  Bridegroom  that  you  may  go  into  the  marriage  supper 
of  the  Lamb,  to  see  to  it  that,  though  you  may  from  the  long 
delay  be  sleeping,  you  have  the  oil  for  the  lamps,  even  his 
grace  hi  your  hearts.  And  not  only  so,  but  this  inner  life  in 
the  soul  must  have  its  full  and  JDroper  outworking  in  the  dili- 
gent use  of  the  several  talents  entrasLed  to  you.  For  only 
with  this  spiritual  life  in  the  heart,  evincing  itself  in  the 
dihgent  employment  of  the  five,  or  the  two,  or  the  one  talent, 
will  any  be  ready  for  the  great  assize,  and  its  great  test. 
Beware  how,  resting  on  false  grounds  of  hope,  ye  go  confi- 
dently forward  undeceived  into  the  King's  presence,  saying 
"  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  dona 
wonderful  works,"  only  to  hear  him  say  "  depart  from  me- 
— I  never  knew  you." 


DISCO  UKISE  XIII, 

THE   DIVINE    TRAGEDY   OP   EARTH,   HEAVEN  AND   HELL. 

HUMANITY   IN   ITS    ESSENTIAL   ATTRIBUTES   TO 

INHABIT   ETERNITY. 

Luke  xvi.  19-31.  There  was  a  certain  rich  man,  which  was  clothed  in 
purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day.  And  there  was  a 
certain  beggar  named  Lazarus,  which  was  laid  at  his  gate  full  of  sores,  and 
desiring  to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  which  fell  from  the  rich  man's  table  ; 
moreover  the  dogs  came  and  licked  his  sores.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that 
the  beggar  died,  and  was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom;  the 
rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried;  And  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being 
in  torments,  and  seeth  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom.  And 
he  cried  and  said,  Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  me,  and  send  Lazarus 
that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of  his  fmger  in  water  and  cool  my  tongue,  for  I  am 
tormented  in  this  flame.  But  Abraham  said,  Son,  Remember  that  thou  in 
thy  life  receivedst  thy  good  things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things  ;  but 
now  he  is  comforted,  and  thou  art  tormented.  And  beside  all  this,  between 
us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed,  &c. 

The  identity  of  doctrine,  and  the  logical  coherency  of  this 
Avith  the  judgment  discourse,  concerning  the  relations  of  the 
present  to  the  future  life,  appears  so  plainly  in  the  Lazarus 
of  this  parable,  as  Christ  representing  himself  in  one  of  his 
brethren, — an  hungered,  athirst,  naked,  sick,  friendless, — as 
to  need  nothing  more  than  a  simple  reference  to  it,  without 
further  exphcation. 

Jesus  had  been  warning  of  the  importance  of  a  wise  use  of 
earthly  goods ;  of  the  antagonism  between  the  true  worship 
of  God  and  the  worship  of  riches  ;  and  of  the  danger  of  covct- 
ousness.  In  answer  to  his  solemn  warnings  '•  the  Pharisees 
who  were  covetous,"  it  is  said,  ''  derided  him."  As  though 
judging  it  useless  to  reason  with  men  determined  not  to  be 


270  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

enli<^htenecl  and  convinced,  he  seeks  another  avenue  to  the 
heart  and  conscience  through  the  imagination.  For  while  the 
gospel  appeals,  in  chief,  to  the  reason  and  understanding  of 
men,  it  appeals  also  to  the  imagination,  to  the  passions,  to  all 
the  powers  of  the  soul.  Therefore,  as  bj  some  divine  acous- 
tics, he  places  an  ordinary  world  scene  in  such  a  focus  that 
the  monotonous  buzz  and  din  and  commonplace  of  the  life 
that  is,  comes  echoed  back,  in  terrific  thunder  tones,  from  the 
endless  vistas  of  the  life  which  is  to  come.;  and  at  once  con- 
firms and  illustrates  his  previous  argument,  bj  presenting  this 
^reat  tragedy  of  earth  and  heaven  and  hell ;  showing  how  the 
mortal  humanity  reaches  onward,  and  becomes  the  immortal 
humanity  inhabiting  eternity. 

I  propose  a  brief  critique  on  this  divine  tragedy  ;  and  to 
gather  from  its  dramatis  loersonoe^  its  scenes  and  its  dialogue, 
the  general  truths  which  Jesus  here  inculcates. 

"  A  certain  rich  man  was  clothed  in  pur^jle  and  fine  linen 
•and  fared  sumptuously  every  day.^^  This  is  a  ohief  person- 
age of  the  tragedy.  That  is  an  important  error  of  interpreta- 
tion here,  which  supposes  that  his  sin  consisted  in  being  rich, 
wearing  fine  clothes,  or  living  sumptuously.  The  gospel 
gives  no  ground  for  the  too  common  impression  that  the  rich 
man  will  go  to  hell  because  he  is  rich,  and  the  poor  man  to 
heaven  because  he  is  po(5r.  Nor,  while  enjoining  "  modest 
apparel,"  and  ''  the  adorning  of  the  inner  man  of  the  heart," 
rather  than  the  outer  man,  does  the  gospel  countenance  that 
sort  of  piety,  which  consists  in  the  style  of  one's  eating  and 
material  of  his  eating,  on  Fridays  or  any  other  days ;  in  the 
cut  and  colour  of  one's  coat,  or  the  fashion  of  head  dress  ;  in 
the  tone  of  one's  voice,  the  phase  of  one's  face,  the  manner  of 
one's  speech  or  the  air  of  one's  bearing.  It  is  not  even  charged 
that  he  became  rich  by  unfair  means.  lie  was  probably  a 
young  man,  since  he  speaks  of  five  brethren,  and  of  his 
father's  house — a  moral  man,  being  a  Pharisee  ;  and  a  nomi- 


JESUS'  PICTURES    OF    IMMORTAL,  HOLY  HUMANITY.  271 

nal  member  of  the  visible  kingdom,  recogiiiziug  Abrabam  as 
bis  fatber. 

It  is  far  more  important,  brctbren,  for  you  to  bear  in  mind, 
tbat  Cbrist  sajs  notbing  against  tbis  one  of  tbe  heroes  of  this 
tragedy,  except  simply  to  paint  bim  as  one  in  full  enjoyment 
of  everything  tbat  tbe  -world  bas  to  offer,  in  contrast  -witb  tbe 
other  earth  picture  which  follows.  Especially  is  this  import- 
ant to  any  of  you  who  imagine  that  the  warnings  of  tlie  gospel 
apply  only  to  the  drunken,  tbe  profane,  tbe  licentious,  tbe 
infidel,  and  not  to  you  who  "  are  not  far  from  the  kingdom 
of  God."  This  man  of  the  divine  tragedy,  for  aught  we  can 
see,  was  just  as  moral,  according  to  the  world's  standard,  and 
as  respectful  to  religion  as  any  of  you. 

'-''And  there  luas  a  certain  beggar  ^^^  &c.  In  perfect  con- 
trast with  him  who  bad  everything  the  world  can  give,  is  this 
picture  of  utter  misery  in  the  lack  of  all  things  ;  concentrat- 
ing in  one  case  all  six  of  the  evils  of  the  judgment  test,  hungry, 
thirsty,  naked,  friendless,  sick,  and — though  not  literally 
in  prison — ^yet  by  the  leprosy  or  other  loathsomeness, 
excluded  from  the  companionship  of  man  as  realiy  as  if  in  a 
prison.  And,  as  wc  infer,  sustained  by  a  heroic  faith,  ho  bore 
it  all  without  a  murmur  against  Providence,  or  even  a  com- 
plaint against  the  rich  man,  saying,  ''  even  so  Father,  for  so 
it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight."       *• 

Such  is  tbe  view  of  tbe  contrasts,  as  the  present  life  exhibits 
them.  Now  the  scene  of  the  tragedy  changes  to  tbe  next 
life,  and  there  agaiu  presents  them  in  still  wider  contrasts,  yet 
contrasts  entirely  reversed. 

"  And  it  came  to  i^ass  that  tlie  beggar  died^  and  wa>i 
carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham'' s  bosom^  Speaking,  as 
he  was,  to  Jews,  he  could  convey  no  loftier  conception  of 
heaven  than  tliat  it  is  the  place  where  Abraham  is  ;  and 
speaking,  as  he  was,  to  people  whose  usage  was,  not  as  ours 
to  iiit  at  meals,  but  to  recline  on  couches — the  head  of  eacli 


2  J  2  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

person  next  below  reaching  to  the  breast  of  him  above  at 
table — (as  at  the  last  sup;:)Oi'  John  it  h  said  ''  leaned  on 
Jesus'  breast  at  supper"  J  he  could  not  more  aptly  express  the 
second  place  of  honour  at  the  celestial  table  than  to  saj,  he 
was  in  Abraham's  bosom.  Thus  he  that  was  esteemed 
unworthy  a  place  even  among  the  servants  at  the  rich  man's 
table  on  earth,  is  transferred  to  the  very  highest  place,  save 
Abraham's,  at  the  festive  table  in  heaven ! 

It  is  specially  worthy  of  note,  how  Jesus  here,  as  the 
gospel  elsewhere,  ever  symbolizes  the  immortal  state  to  us 
in  figures  and  forms  gathered  from  the  best  and  loveliest 
things  that  belong  to  the  mortal  state.  The  communion  of 
friends  together,  in  breaking  bread  at  each  other's  table,  is 
among  the  purest  of  earthly  pleasures  ;  and,  hence,  that 
furnishes  a  favourite  figure  in  the  scriptures  for  the  expression 
of  what  is  spiritual  joyousness  and  high  privilege.  The  sac- 
rament of  the  Old  Testament  covenant  was  cast  into  this  form 
of  a  supper — so  of  the  same  sacrament  in  the  New.  The 
promise  of  Jesus  to  the  believing  soul  is  "  I  will  come  in 
and  sup  with  him  and  he  with  me."  And  John  permitted,  in 
his  visions,  to  gaze  in  upon  the  redeemed  in  glory,  found 
them  waiting  for  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb.  So  here 
Jesus,  when  he  would  describe  the  life  to  come  for  us,  sets  it 
forth  as  a  communion  of  friefids  together  at  a  glorious  celestial 
feast  with  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful  at  the  head  of 
the  table. 

This  is  the  glory  of  the  heaven  of  Jesus,  that  it  is  a  human 
nature  heaven.  And,  to  one  who  has  truly  entered  into  the 
spirit  of  his  teachings  of  immortality,  it  is  nothing  short  of 
blasphemous,  to  hear  men  coldly  talk  of  the  "immortality 
brought  to  light  in  the  gospel,"  as  but  another  mode  of  pre- 
senting the  beautiful  speculations  of  the  schools  concerning  it ; 
and  of  Jesus  and  Socrates  and  Plato  as  co-ordinate  teachers 
on  this  point.     For  what  though  Plato  had   demonstrated 


JESUS    I'lCTUllES    UF  IMMORTAL,  HOLY   HUMANITY.  273 


immortality — wliieli  lie  did  not  do,  but  only  surmised  it  ?  of 
what  practical  use  his  immortality  of  a  spirit,  ushered  naked 
and  shivering  into  eternity,  even  when  proved  ?  What  care 
I  to  be  told  of  an  immortality  stripped  of  everything  but  mere 
existence  ?  What  joy  to  me  in  the  thought  that,  after  the 
present  existence,  I  shall  be  dashed  as  a  splinter  from  the 
wreck  of  Time,  to  float,  vibrating  and  tossing  on  the  ripples  of 
the  illimitable  ocean  of  eternity  ?  One  shrinks  from  tlie 
thoudit  of  an  existence  that  has  nothms;  in  it  in  common  with 
the  present.  But  it  is  a  different  matter,  when  Jesus  tells  ns 
of  an  existence  beyond  death  that  is  not  severed  at  all  from 
any  thing  that  is  pure  and  holy  and  beautiful  in  the  present 
life  ;  of  an  eternal  manhood,  of  which  this  is  the  infancy ;  of 
an  eternal  harvest,  of  which  this  is  the  seed  time  ;  of  an  eternal 
treasure  house,  into  wdiich  shall  be  garnered  for  us  all  the 
precious  jewels  gathered  out  of  the  rubbish  of  earth  and  lit  up 
by  the  beaming  smiles  of  God  Almighty,  the  sun  thereof ;  of 
the  whole  family  gathered  from  the  scatterings  of  earth  under 
him  "  of  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named*' 
— A  family  whose  oldest  children  heard  the  echoes  of  the  song 
of  the  morning  stars  when  time  began,  and  whose  youngest 
children  shall  have  heard,  in  the  flesh,  the  sound  of  the  arch- 
angel's trump,  proclaiming  that  Time  shall  be  no  longer  !  A 
family  embracing  patriarchs  and  prophets  and  apostles  ;  and 
the  noble  army  of  the  martyrs ;  and  all  the  holy  and  good 
who  have  ever  lived,  with  all  the  good,  and  pure  and  dear  of 
the  friends  we  have  ever  known  !  Then,  then,  the  immortality 
is  attractive  and  to  be  longed  for  "  with  ardent  pangs  of  strong 
desire  !"  Such  an  immortality  is  fitted  "  to  comfort  those  that 
mourn  and  to  heal  the  broken-hearted."  For  it  enables  us  to 
follow  our  departed,  in  thought,  to  the  assembly  with  Abraham, 
and  to  feel  that,  instead  of  wandering  lonely  through  an  illimi- 
table desert  of  eternal  existence,  they  are  with  friends  who 
care  for  them,  and  with  Jesus  who  loves  them,  even  with  Gud 

s 


274  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

"  Vfho  wipes  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes."     We  can,  with 
joy,  now  reason — what  though, 

"  A  brightness  hath  passed  from  the  earth, 
Yet  a  star  is  new  born  in  the  sky  ; 
And  a  soul  hath  gone  home  to  the  land  of  its  birth, 
Where  are  pleasures  and  fulness  of  joy  ! 
Where  its  thirst  shall  be  slaked  with  the  waters  that  spring, 
Like  a  rirer  of  light,  from  the  throne  of  the  King; 
And  a  new  harp  is  strung,  and  a  new  song  is  given, 
To  the  breezes  that  float  o'er  the  gardens  of  heaven !" 

The  immortality,  according  to  Jesus  Christ,  is  no  mere 
shadowy ,  metaphysical  existence,  but  the  carrying  over  death 
of  everything  sinless  that  pertains  to  humanity  here. 

The  earth  itself  dies  not ;  for  the  holy  memories  of  it  die 
not ;  its  purer  and  nobler  affections  die  not ;  its  holy  thoughts 
die  not.  They  pass  on,  over  death,  imperishable  as  the  soul 
itself,  to  constitute  the  elements  of  its  heaven.  For  the  eternal 
life,  as  Jesus  teaches,  actually  begins  here.  "  He  that 
beheveth  on  the  Son  hath  (not  shall  have)  everlasting  life." 
And,  of  course,  the  consciousness  belonging  to  the  eternal 
life  here  must  go  on  with  the  soul,  over  death,  as  the  con- 
sciousness of  infancy  goes  on  into  manhood. 

Such  is  the  infinite  contrast  between  the  Lazarus  lying  at 
the  rich  man's  gate,  with  the"  dogs  for  companions  ;  and  the 
Lazarus  exalted,  next  to  head,  at  the  celestial  table,  with  the 
multitude  of  the  redeemed  doing  him  honour  ! 

It  is  specially  worthy  of  note,  also,  how  Jesus  seems  ever 
to  select  the  very  humblest  people  for  the  high  places  of  dis- 
tinction in  his  kingdom.  This  is  the  case  in,  perhaps,  every 
one  of  the  few  instances  in  which  he  appeals  to  that  principle 
so  universal  in  human  nature,  the  love  of  eminence  and  distinc- 
tion. I  recall  now  only  three  of  these  cases.  One  was  that 
of  the  poor  widow  that,  timidly  and  half-ashamed,  dropped  her 
two  fartliings  into  the  treasury  among  the  ostentatious  gifts  ot 
the  wealthy ;  of  whom  he  declared  she  had  excelled  them  all. 


GOSrEL    ESTIMATE    OF    SERVICES    AND    HANK.    275 
Another  -was  the  case  of  the   humble  -woman  whose  heart. 


bursting  with  gratitude  led  her  to  make  the  offering  of  her 
beautiful  trinket,  the  alabaster  box  of  ointment — all  she  had 
to  offer ;  of  ^Yhom  he  declared  that  fame  should  perpetuate 
"  her  memory,  "  Avherever  this  gospel  shall  be  preached." 
The  other  is  this  case  of  Lazarus,  who  had  not  even  the  two 
farthings  to  give,  and  by  reason  of  his  infirmity,  had  nothing 
that  he  could  do  for  the  Master,  except,  with  heroic  faith,  to 
suffer  without  murmuring  ;  of  whom  he  declares,  he  is  exalted 
to  the  second  place  of  honour  in  heaven. 

Ye  humble  ones  of  Christ's  people  !  here  is  encouragement 
and  comfort  for  you.     You  ask  "  What  can  I,  a  servant  do, 
in  my  low  station  of  poverty,  to  evince  my  faith  and  love." 
''  Wliat  can  I,  a  timid  and  shrinking  girl  do  ?"  "What  can  I, 
an  over-taxed  mother  do,  whose  world  lies  wholly  within  my 
own  dwelling  ?"     "  What  can  such  as  we  do  ?"  '^0,  if  we  were 
high  in  station,  blessed  with  wealth,  influence,  office  in  the 
Church,  then  could  we  evince  to  the  world  how  sincerely  Ave 
love  Jesus  !     But  our  want  of  opportunity  to  test  our  faith 
makes  us  sometimes  doubtful  whether  we  really  believe  and 
love  him  or  not !"     But  any  of  you  have  a  better  opportunity 
than  Lazarus  had  ;  and  yet  he  won  the  second  place  !     The 
measure  applied  by  Jesus  Christ  is  not  the  amount  and  value 
of  the  thing  done,  nor  the  "extent  of  your  sphere ;  but  the 
perfection  with  which  you  fill  your  sphere,  whether  it  be  large 
or  small.  Nay  though  your  sphere  be  narrowed  by  poverty  and 
suffering  down  to  your  very  self,  you  may,  by  suffering  aright, 
gain  a  higher  place  than  many  that  can  do  much.     What  he 
will  have  is  the  devoted  love  of  the  heart,  which  may  be 
evinced  equally  by  great  acts,  or  by  small  acts.     The  Queen 
on  her  throne,  filled  with  gratitude  for  some  great  act  of 
kindness  and  blessing,  evinces  the  love  for  the  great  benefactor 
by  a  royal  gift,  it  may  be  of  the  half  of  her  kingdom.     But 
the  little  child,  whoso  heart  your  kindness  may  have  won. 


276  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

just  as  clearlj  and  beautifallj  ev.nces  the  love  of  its  little 
heart  by  thrusting  upon  you  with  overflowing  generosity,  all 
the  prized  toys  which  it  deems  too  precious  to  allow  any  other 
to  touch !  Just  so  with  the  gifts  which  evince  love  to  Jesus. 
Indulge  in  no  day-dreams  of  what  you  would  do  in  another 
and  larger  sphere  ;  nor  impatiently  thrust  yourself  into  spheres 
of  doubtful  fitness.  Just  where  you  are,  and  as  you  are,  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  your  station,  with  a  loving  and  trusting 
heart,  looking  to  Jesus.  If  this  simple  principle  were  com- 
prehended, we  would  have  less  of  that  ambitious  looking  for 
"  a  mission"  which  has  exposed  religion  to  reproach  ;  and  a 
solution  of  the  problem  of  "  woman's  mission."  For  then 
"  feed  my  lambs" — a  mission  gr^at  enough  for  Peter,  would 
no  longer  be  thought  not  great  enough  for  woman  ! 

Now  comes  another  infinite  contrast,  infinitely  sad — "  The 
rich  mail  also  died.^^  The  riches  avail  nothing  to  save  him 
from  the  last  lot  of  the  beggar  !  The  lines  of  their  existence, 
though  infinitely  divergent,  cross  each  other  at  death  as  a 
point  common  to  both.  Think  of  this,  ye  that  serve  Mammon 
as  your  master.  Of  what  avail  all  that  Mammon  can  do  for 
you,  after  a  few  days  of  treacherous  enjoyment.  Will  the 
stately  mansions  and  the  broad  acres  that  surround  them, 
make  Dca:!i  more  chary  of  approach  to  their  lord  ?  Will  fine 
linen  cool  the  fevered  blood ;  or  purple  sooth  the  aching  frame; 
or  sumptuous  fare  tempt  the  languid  appetite  once  he  hath 
breathed  upon  you  ?  Will  your  garnered  ''  bonds  "  buy 
the  medicine  that  shall : 

"  Minister  to  the  miad  diseased, 
Pluck  from  the  memory  the  rooted  sorrow, 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain  ?" 

Will  your  gleammg  silver  tempt  Death  to  restrain  his  hand, 
when,  "  he  hath  bent  his  bow  and  made  ready  the  arrow  to 
the  string  ?"  May  your  yellowy  gold  ascend,  before  you  to 
the  high  places  of  heavenly  justice,  as  sometimes  it  hath 


FALLACIES  OF  THE  ARGUMENTS  AGAINST  A  HELL.  277 

ascended  to  high  places  of  earthly  justice,  and  bribe  the  pen 
of  the  recording  angel  to  erase,  or  make  no  record  of  your 
deeds  of  sin  ?  Of  ^Yllat  use  then  this  carefulness  and  zeal  in 
the  service  of  ^lammon,  that  leads  you  to  neglect  and  contemn 
the  service  of  God  ? 

''  And  was  buried.'''  This  is  not  said  in  the  case  of  Lazarus, 
Avlio  probably  was  thrown  aside  as  a  loatlisome  carcass  from 
the  sight  of  men.  But  in  the  vain  effort  to  keep  up  distinc- 
tions even  after  death,  the  rich  man's  body  was  probably 
escorted  with  solemn  pageant  to  its  burial.  And,  doubtless, 
out  of  his  vast  wealth  a  splendid  monument  was  reared  to  tell 
the  story  of  his  virtues,  and,  possibly,  like  many  of  its  kind,  a 
lying  monument  at  that.  But  his  true  monument  he  hath 
reared  for  himself,  as  we  shall  see  a  little  farther  on. 

"  And  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  being  in  torment^ 
Here  large  numbers,  who  affect  great  admiration  for  the 
amiable  teachings  of  Jesus,  shrink  back  declaring,  "  this  is 
a  hard  saying,  who  can  hear  it  ?"  The  chief  of  these 
objectors  may  be  classified  into  three ;  those  who  deny  that 
the  scriptures  mean  to  teach  a  retributive  torment ;  those 
who  deem  such  a  doctrine  inconsistent  with  other  funda- 
mental truths  of  revealed  theology;  and  those  who  reject, 
alike,  the  inspiration  of  the  scriptures  and  the  retribution. 

As  to  the  first  of  these  classes,  who  profess  to  accept  the 
scriptures  as  of  inspired  authority  and  yet  deny  that  they 
teach  the  doctrine  of  a  hell,  it  must  be  confessed  there  is 
nothing  to  encourage  an  argument  with  such.  For  if  the 
acknowledging  of  the  scriptures,  in  the  plain  common  sense 
meaning  of  their  words,  docs  not  settle  the  question,  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  such  a  truth  can  be  expressed  in 
human  language  at  ail.  We  need  not  stand  upon  the  terms 
"hell"  and  ''fire"  and  -  Tophet."  If  these  are  offensive 
to  "  ears  polite,"  then  find  smoother  terms  if  you  please. 
The  question  is  not  of  words,  but  of  ideas   and  princij>lcs- 


J 

278  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

Whether  this  scene  is  properly  named  "  Hell,"  or  "  Hades,"       ' 
or  '^  Sheol ;"  still  it  is  a  place  whore  a  soul  is  in  "  torment,"       ] 
''  afar  off"  from  Abraham's  state  of  bliss,  and  crying  out  in       I 
anguish.     So  that  the  idea  of  a  place  of  intense  unhappiness,       I 
separate  from  the  place  of  bliss  after  a  man  dies,  and  this       ] 
OTowino;  out  of  something;  that  had  existed  before  death,  is       I 
still  left,  though  your  criticisms  have  utterly  rooted  out  the       \ 
terai  "  hell,"  or  substituted  for  it  the  smoothest  and  most 
delightful  of  euphemisms.     Nor  does  it  affect,  in  the  least,       I 
the  principle,  Avhether  the  parable  is  taken  as  narrating  a 
real  or  a  fictitious  case  ;  since  Jesus  Christ,  whose  ''  truth  is 
stranger  than  fiction,"  would  employ  to  illustrate  his  doctrines       ' 
only  that  fiction,  which  is  truer  than  truth,  in  the  sense  of 
having  been  specially  created  for  the  exhibition  of  some  great 
principle.     The  real  objection  to  the  modern  method  of  first 
applying  a  patent  critical  machinery  to  the  words  of  inspira-      .; 
tion,   to   squeeze    out   of    them,   before    using,    everything       i 
offensive  or  contrary  to  some  new  theory  of  theology,  ethics,       j 
or  philanthropy  that  has  been  first  constructed  outside,  the 
sphere  of  inspired  ideas,  and  then  brought  to  the  bible  to  be      •: 
udderpinned  with  texts,  is  not  so  much  that  it  overthrows  this 
or  that  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  as  that  it  accustoms  the  people       ; 
to  trifling  with  the  divinely  inspired  rule  of  faith.     When  the       : 
people  are  taught  by  one  bibUcal  critic   that   "  hell "  does       ; 
not   mean   hell,  but   some   poetic  fiction  ;  by  another   that       ! 
''  Holy  Ghost  "  does  not  mean  "  Holy  Ghost,"  but  a  meta- 
physical figure  of  speech  ;  by  another  that  "  wine  "  does  not       | 
mean  wine,  but   water   filtered   through    grape    sauce  ;  by       | 
another  that "  slave  "  does  not  mean  slave  but  an  apprentice  or 
a  hireling  ;    by  another  that  the  saying,  "  All  scripture  is 
God-inspired,"   does  not  mean  inspired  in  any  sense  that 
guarantees  the  scriptures  against  absurd,  mistaken  or  legend-      j 
ary  statements  ;  how  shall  they  do  otherwise  than  conclude       \ 
that,  from  the  uncertainties  of  its  meaning,  the  bible  is  utterly       | 
wortliless  as  an  infallible  rule  of  faith  ?  I 


FALLACIES  OF  THE  ARGUMENTS  AGAINST  A  HELL.    279 

Besides  it  seems  utterly  useless,  if  one  had  a  taste  for 
it,  to  argue  the  reality  of  future  retribution,  with  such  as 
profess  to  accept  the  inspired  scriptures,  and  yet  deny  this 
doctrine. 

For  even  after  we  have  reasoned  from  indubitable  premises, 
with  mathematical  certainty,  to  our  conclusion  that  there  is  a 
hell,  that  conclusion  must  bo  expressed  in  language  ;  and  it 
is  beyond  the  ingenuity  of' man  to  find  language  more  definite 
and  less  subject  to  perversion  by  criticism  than  that  in  which 
scripture  has  already  expressed  the  same  conclusion.  But 
they  say  the  scriptures  do  not  mean  that,  though  they  say  it. 
So  these  amiable  theologians  and  critics  might  just  as  pro- 
perly turn  to  the  audience  to  which  we  have  demonstrated 
that— 

"  There  is  a  death  whose  pang 
Outlasts  this  fleeting  breath 
And  0  eternal  horrors  hang 
Around  this  second  death" — 

and  gravely  caution  them  against  alarm  at  our  conclusion ; 
that  we  did  not  mean  what  we  seem  to  mean,  that  after  the 
death  of  the  body  the  soul  may  be  unhappy ;  that  manifestly 
we  used  poetic  figures  of  speech,  and  allowance  must  be  made 
for  poetic  license  !  In  what  language  could  we  express  the 
future  retribution  for  sin  ;  or  in  what  greater  variety  of  method 
and  connection,  than  Jesus  and  his  inspired  agents  have 
already  done  ?  And  if  these  critics  may  say  that  Jesus  and 
bis  inspired  agents  did  not  mean  what  they  said,  but  some- 
thing else — why  not  also  say  that,  when  we  thus  express  in 
language  the  conclusions  to  which  the  most  inexorable  logic 
may  drive  us,  we  do  not  mean  what  our  language  conveys, 
but  something  entirely  the  reverse  ? 

Of  that  very  amiable  class  of  theologians  who  deny  retri- 
bution on  the  ground  that  such  an  idea  is  utterly  repulsive 
to   their  conceptions   of  the  love    of  God,  as   everywhere 


280  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTII^  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

declared  in  the  gospel,  there  is  space  now  only  to  say  that 
their  conception  of  the  gospel  is  simply  a  caricature  of  the 
gospel ;  less  rude,  it  may  be,  but  not  less  wide  of  the  truth 
than  the  fierce  and  wrathful  gospel  of  the  most  malignant 
fanatic. 

The  gospel  preached  by  Jesus,  is  no  monotone  of  "  love," 
"  love  !"  It  is  no  cradle  song  of  lullaby  to  soothe  a  babe  to 
sleep  with.  It  is  no  strain  for  the  compass  only  of  the  gentle 
rebeck,  or  "lute,  or  soft  recorder."  It  is  a  many-sided, 
many-voiced  strain  to  fill  the  mighty  compass  of  that  great 
organ,  the  human  soul  ;  to  sweep  its  infinite  diapason,  and 
awaken,  alike,  the  deep  thunder  tones  of  an  accusing  con- 
science ;  the  loud  wails  of  penitential  sorrow ;  the  subdued 
tones  of  loving  but  trembling  faith  ;  and  the  lofty  notes  of  the 
holy  ecstasy  of  '*  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  !"  It  is 
Jesus  Christ  who  wept  over  sinners,  saying  "  0  that  thou 
hadst  known!"  who  proclaims  "the  terrors  of  the  Lord" 
and  flings  "  the  arrows  of  the  Almighty."  Remember  it  is 
the  same  Jesus  who  spake  the  parables  of  the  lost  sheep,  the 
lost  treasure,  and  the  father  yearning  after  his  poor  prodi- 
gal, in  the  previous  chapter,  that  speaks  this  parable  of  the 
rich  man  in  hell  lifting  up  his  eyes  in  torment. 

Of  that  class  who  reject  the  scriptures,  and  Who,  on  prin- 
ciples of  mere  Deism,  scoff  at  retribution,  there  will  be  occa- 
sion to  speak  further  on. 

''Ajid  seeth  Abraham  afar  off  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom.^^ 
They  who,  from  bitter  experience,  know  anything  of  the 
pangs  of  a  joy  just  within  their  reach,  lost  beyond  hope  of 
recovery  ;  of  high  expectation  suddenly  dashed  to  pieces, 
just  as  about  to  be  fulfilled;  of  arriving  at  the  station  after 
long  and  weary  absence  from  the  loved  ones  at  home,  only  to 
see  the  train,  homeward  bound,  gone  just  out  of  reach — need 
no'-,  be  told  that  this  is  one  of  the-  darksst  lines  of  this  picture 
of  a  lost  soul.     To  be  doomed,  amid  all  the  agonies  of  hell,  to 


DIALOGUE— FRAYING   WHEN    TOO   LATE.         281 

see  for  ever  Abraham  afar  off  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom,  is 
Avhat  must  sting  most  keenly.  0,  if  that  existence  might  be 
an  eternal  oblivion  of  all  that  is  holj  and  pure  in  plcasiire, 
and  an  utter  unconsciousness  that  anj  thing  better  than  this 
state  of  torment  existed  in  the  universe,  it  would  alleviate 
half  its  horrors  !  If  instead  of  a  division  by  "  a  great  gulph 
fixed,"  across  which  the  doomed  may  look,  it  were  an  infinite 
wall  erected,  with  foundations  deep  laid  in  the  depths  of  hell, 
and  its  battlements  overtopping  the  battlements  of  heaven — 
then  the  soul  might  at  last  sink  into  comparative  apathy,  from 
never  conceiving  of  anything  better  than  these  horrors ; 
verily,  this  touch  of  the  divine  pencil  throws  a  deeper  dark- 
ness even  over  '•  the  outer  darkness,"  that  shrouds  the 
"weeping,  and  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  !" 

We  come  now  to  the  dialogue  of  the  divine  tragedy 
between  hell  and  heaven.  First  Hell  speaks  ; — 
''■Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  me  and  send  Lazarus.'''' 
This  is  the  only  case  of  prayer  to  saints  recorded  in  scrip- 
ture ;  and  he  did  not  get  what  he  prayed  for.  Alas,  this 
poor  soul  is  ready  now  to  plead  his  Church  relation,  and,  being 
within  the  covenant  Avith  Abraham  his  father,  to  set  up  that 
as  his  claim  to  salvation.  It  was  the  current  error  of  his 
time.  John  Baptist  had  occasion  to  warn  men  against  it, 
saying,  '•  Think  not  to  say  within  yourselves,  Ave  have  Abra- 
ham for  our  father."  Jesus  had  occasion  to  remind  the 
dignitaries  of  the  Church,  "If  yo  were  Abraham's  children 
ye  would  do  the  works  of  Abraham."  Paul  had  afterward 
continually  to  argue  that  only  "  they  which  are  of  faith,  the 
same  are  the  children  of  faithful  Abraham."  And,  to  this 
day,  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  tlic  true  gospel  in  the 
heart,  and  one  of  the  most  delusive  errors,  is  this  same  pro- 
pensity to  rely  on  being  in  the  true  Church,  as  the  chief  title 
to  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the  kin-^- 
dom  of  heaven.     But  while  to  be  in  the  true  Church  is  all- 


282  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL- 

important,  that  is  not  because,  being  there,  one  is  secure  of  "j 

heaven.  .; 

On  the  other  hr.nd,  how  many  a  pastor  has  found  with  pro-  ] 

found  grief— when  called  to  the  death-bed  of  some  poor  reck-  I 

less  apostate  from  his  birthright  in  the  Church ;  who  all  life  i 
long  has  been  ashamed  of  his  relation,  and  joined  with  the 
scoffers  to  sneer  at  it— that  now,  when  earth  is  fading  from 
his  view  without,  and  nature  dissolving  within,  he  is  ready 

enough  to  catch  at  that,  as  a  sinking  man  catches  at  the  straw ;  \ 

and  relates  the  story  of  his  birth  as  a  member  of  the  Church,  | 

the  recog^iition  of  it  in  his  baptism,  and  the  prayers  and  godly  i 

instructions  of  pious  parents,  as  some  ground  of  hope  for  him  I 

still !    Remember,  ye  on  whom  the  vows  of  God  rest ;  however  i 
you  may  now  be  ashamed  of  them,  and  scoff  at  the  call  to 

fuLill  them,  the  day  is  coming  when  you  shall  in  like  manner  ; 
be  ready  enough  to  acknowledge  them  ;  but  alas  too  late  1    If 
you  are  wise  you  will  call  now  upon  your  fathers'  God,  and 

the  God  of  your  mother,  and  ask  that  their  prayers  for  you  ; 

may  be  answered.  ; 

Heaven   responds : — Soji,    Remember^  that   tliou^  in    thj 

lifetime^  reoeived^t  thy  good  things^  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  j 

things^  hut  now  he  is  comforted  and  thou  art  torme>.ted.'^  ] 

In  this  response  is  set  forth  substantially  that  great  prin-  ; 
ciple  which  is  positively  asserted,  or  more  or  less  directly  and  ] 
distinctly  assumed  in  every  paragraph  of  the  gospel.  And  not  j 
only  so,  but  it  is  a  principle  embodied  in  the  very  constitution  ! 
of  the  human  soul — That  justice  requires  a  retribution  after  j 
this  life  ;  at  least  in  so  far  as  to  rectify  the  obviously  imper-  j 
feet  dispensation  of  rewards  and  punishments  here.  For,  as  I 
men  see  how  on  every  hand  wickedness  goes  unwhipped  of  | 
justice  ;  how  dishonesty,  falsehood,  meanness,  dishonour  stalk  -; 
abroad,  and  tread  under  their  feet,  oft-times,  purity,  truthful- 
ness, benevolence,  honour,  fidelity ;  how  the  brute  law  of  j 
"  might  maJces  right, ^^  becomes  the  law  of  man's  rule  over  ' 


r[ELL  THE  JUST  AlTD  NATURAL  SEQUENCE  OF  SIN.   2S3*- 

nivin ;  how  "  the  wicked  spreadeth  himself  in  prosperity  as  a 
grccii  bay  tree,  and  is  not  in  trouble  as  other  men,  nor 
plagued  like  other  men  ;  "  while  men  of  integrity  and  virtue 
have  "waters  of  a  full  cup  wrung  out  to  them,''  until  they 
wail  in  their  despair  ^'  I  have  cleansed  my  heart  in  vain  and 
washed  my  hands  in  innocency,  for  all  the  day  long  have  I 
been  plagued,  and  chastened  every  morning ;"  —  they  are 
obliged  to  feel,  that,  if  a  just  God  rules  the  affairs  of  men, 
there  must  be  a  high  court  of  appeal,  where  these  unjust 
awards  of  earth  shall  nil  be  set  right.  In  this  aspect  of  the 
question,  they  who  deny  future  retribution  not  only  contra- 
vene the  revelation  of  God,  but  insult  the  ethical  instincts  and 
universal  judgments  of  mankind." 

Heaven  continues :  And  besides  all  thiSy  between  us  and 
7J011  there  is  a  great  fjulf  fixed:  so  that  theij  which  tvonld 
pass  from  hence  to  you  cannot :  neither  can  they  i^ass  to  its 
that  would  come  from  thence. ^^ 

Aside  from  the  judicial  view  of  the  matter,  there  is  a  reason, 
in  the  natural  order  and  eternal  constitution  of  things,  why 
the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  cannot  spend  their  eternity 
together.  While  the  bible  holds  forth  heaven  ai)d  liell  in 
the  forensic  aspect  of  the  awards  of  a  judgment,  it  no  less 
clearly  exhibits  them  as  the  natural  and  necessary  results  of 
the  life  on  earth.  So  that  were  there  no  coming  of  "  the  Son 
of  man  in  his  glory ;"  no  setting  up  of  his  throne  of  judg- 
ment ;  no  trial  and  award,  no  inquest  into  the  deeds  of  the 
present  life,  heaven  and  hell  must  follow,  nevertheless.  For 
those  two  estates  in  the  future  stand  to  the  present  in  the 
relation  simply  of  a  natural  separation  of  the  evil  from  the 
good,  which  in  this  present  state  are  nnnatiirally  mingled 
together.  Hell  began  on  earth  when  sin  began  ;  but,  in 
virtue  of  the  great  mediatorial  enterprise  of  Christ  to  gather 
out  of  the  doomed  race  a  body  for  himself,  the  hand  of  Infinite' 
Mercy  suppresses  the  outbursting  of  its  fires  to  give  time  and 


284  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

•opportunity  for  Christ  to  "  seo  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and 
bo  satisfied."  Hence  the  Apostle  speaks  of  our  universe  as 
simply  "  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire  against  the  day  of 
judgment,  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men."  And,  since  the 
Tvork  of  redemption  is  finished,  they  speak  of  all  the  period 
that  follows,  as  the  "last  time,"  indicating  that  at  any  time 
now,  the  period  may  arrive  when  the  Mediator  having  no 
further  use  for  it,  the  original  sentence  may  be  executed,  and 
the  unnatural  give  way  to  the  natural  order,  of  the  good  to 
itself  and  the  evil  to  itself.  In  accordance  with  this  theory 
of  the  race,  as  a  race,  is  all  the  teaching  concerning  the  case 
of  the  individuals  of  it.  '•  He  that  belie veth  not,"  saith  Christ, 
is  condemned  already^  and  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him. 
■On  the  other  hand,  "  He  that  believeth,  Jiatli  everlasting 
life"  ;  the  estate  of  heaven  is  already  begun  in  his  soul. 
Every  man  carries  within  him  here  the  germs  of  his  heaven 
■or  hell.  The  grace  of  God  nurtures  the  one,  keeping  it 
.alive  to  the  day  of  deliverance  ;  the  mercy  of  God  restrains 
the  other  from  bursting  forth  until  the  day  of  doom.  The 
gospel  theory  leaves,  really,  no  place  for  the  cavils  against 
the  injustice  of  punishing  a  man  eternally  for  the  sin  of  a  few 
days  on  earth.  For,  according  to  this  theory,  the  sinner, 
.remaining  unchanged  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  without  the 
new  life,  goes  on  into  eternity  just  as  he  is,  to  sin  on,  and 
therefore  to  suffer  on  for  ever.  He  suffers  hero  because  ho 
is  a  sinner,  though,  on  account  of  the  restraining  mercy  of 
God,  he  only  partially  suffers  the  consequences  of  his  sin. 
He  goes  on  a  sinner  and,  therefore,  to  suffer,  in  an  estate  where 
;inercy  ceases  to  interpose,  but  where  the  full  consequences  of 
his  sin  follow  it  forever.  Hence  it  is  represented  as  the 
decree,  after  the  present  estate,  ''  He  that  is  unjust  let  him 
be  unjust  still,  and  he  that  is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still,  and 
lie  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still." 

Thus,  also,  the  relation  of  the  present  to  the  future  life  is 


HELL  THE  JUST  AXD  NATURAL   SEQUENCE  OF  SIN.  2S5 

set  forth  bj  the  Apostle  as  the  natural  relation  of  seed  time 
and  harvest.  "  What  a  man  sowetli  that  shall  he  also  reap. 
He  that  soweth  to  the  flesh,  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption ; 
and  he  that  soweth  to  the  spirit,  shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life 
everlasting!"  By  the  same  law,  therefore,  under  which 
kind  produces  kind,  and  by  which  he  that  soweth  wheat  shall 
reap  wheat,  and  he  that  soweth  tares  reap  tares, — shall  he 
that  soweth  sin,  during  the  present  seed  time,  reap  the 
han'est  of  sin  throughout  eternity. 

Bear  in  mind  this  very  solemn  view  of  the  life  here,  as 
simply  the  elements  of  heaven  and  hell  commmghng ;  the 
heaven  suppressed  by  the  antagonist  workings  of  sin  in  the 
members ;  the  hell  suppressed  by  the  hand  of  Grod's  mercy 
restraining  it.  Remember,  too,  that  the  condition  natural 
is  that  of  condemnation;  and  the  new  life  in  the  soul  the 
be^innin'i;  of  the  everlastin2;  life.  Let  not  the  fact  of  the 
junction  of  the  two  estates  of  life  and  death  under  the  social 
conditions  of  the  present  life  deceive  you  into  the  belief  that 
there  is  little  difference  between  "  him  that  believeth,"  and 
"  him  that  believeth  not."  When,  of  God's  grace,  that 
iutimate  friend  of  yours  is  led  to  believe  in  Jesus,  leaving  you. 
in  unbelief,  then,  and  there,  this  separation  begins.  A  narrow 
chasm  at  first  perhaps  ;  you  still  join  the  hand  of  friendship 
across  it.  But  it  will  go  on  widening  and  Avidening,  till,  after 
death,  it  spreads  '•'  a  great  gulf,  fixed,"  infinite  and  bridge- 
less  ! 

It  is  on  the  ground  of  this  second  argument,  in  the  response 
of  heaven,  that  we  meet  the  class  of  scoffers  at  the  scriptural 
doctrine  of  retribution  before-mentioned.  We  will  sot  aside 
that  view  if  you  please  ;  or  even  admit,  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, the  validity  of  your  reasoning  against  the  justice  of 
eternal  retribution.  But  "  besides  all  this,''  independent  of 
tlie  question  of  the  justice  of  the  thing — by  the  natural  and 
necessary  order  of  the  universe   there    is    a    "  great  gulf 


286  THE  DmNE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

fixed,"  between  the  evil  and  the  good  in  the  future  state. 
And  what  though  you  have  overthrown  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ  in  the  gospel,  and  scoffed  the  whole  theory  of  reward 
and  punishment  out  of  the  faith  and  the  memory  of  the  world, 
— wherein  will  you  have  bettered  your  condition  ?  The  evil 
mature  within  you  still  exists ;  and  unless  you  are  to  perish 
as  the  brute,  must  continue  to  exist  for  evt^r.  If  you  scoff  at 
the  gospel  theory  of  a  change  of  nature  by  a  divine  regenera- 
tion here,  as  absurd  and  unphilosophical,  it  is  equally  unphi- 
losophical  to  conceive  of  any  such  change  there.  So  that,  on 
your  own  showing,  here  is  a  nature  full  of  passions,  and  evil 
passions  at  that,  passing  on,  stripped  of  all  that  held  the 
passions  in  check  on  earth,  into  eternity,  an  inextinguishable, 
intelligent,  conscious  being.  Now  what  else  can  follow  than 
some  such  estate  as  Jesus  describes  by  these  tremendous 
types  ?  Follow,  in  idea,  the  men  that  surround  you  here,  embo- 
died in  the  flesh,  as  they  pass  into  that  existence,  and  tell  us 
wherein  the  gospel  exaggerates  the  picture  of  what  must  be 
their  future  estate.  Follow  this  sensualist,  whose  only  notion 
of  enjoyment,  or  capacity  for  it,  is  of  that  happiness  which  he 
has  in  common  with  the  brutes,  that  comes  through  gratified 
sensations.  But  now  the  link  is  rusted  away  which  bound 
his  spirit  to  the  flesh,  and  thereby  furnished  that  channel  of 
pleasure  through  the  senses  from  a  material  world ;  and  he 
rushes,  a  naked,  shivering  spirit  into  a  realm  w^iere  there  are 
no  longer  any  senses  to  minister,  or  objects  of  sense  to  fur- 
nish pleasure !  Follow  this  Shy  lock,  whose  only  conception 
of  happiness  is  of  gold  hoarded  up,  and  to  whom  a  loss  by 
some  speculation  or  accident  brings  the  pangs  of  hell  even 
here  on  earth — follow  him  as  his  spirit  dashes  into  eternity, 
stripped  of  all  his  wealth,  to  wander  an  immortal  beggar! 
Follow  this  creature  of  envy  and  jealousy,  whose  spirit  burns 
with  the  smouldering  fires  of  hell,  if  a  rival  gets  the  start  of 
him  in  popular  esteem,  as  he  passes  on  to  an  eternal  state  in 


HELL  THE  JUST   AND  NATURAL  SEQUENCE  OF  SIN.  2S7 

^vllicll  the  infinite  gulf  is  fixed  between  the  good  and  evil ; 
across  which  he  must  gaze  forever  at  the  crowned  victors  in 
the  race  for  true  glory  !  Follow  these,  or  any  one  of  a  score 
of  characters  that  might  be  cited,  into  their  immortality,  and 
tell  us  what  fitter  figures  Jesus  could  have  used  to  describe 
it,  than  the  eternal "  waihug  and  gnashing  of  teeth  !'' 

Yet  this  is  not  all ;  for  it  presents  the  mere  negations  of 
pleasure.  /Vnd  moreover  it  takes  into  the  account  only  the 
self-action  of  each  individual.  But  conceive  of  these  spirits 
now  all  existing  together.  To  aid  the  conception  imagine 
the  vile,  depraved  and  reckless  of  the  earth,  even  as  they 
are  in  the  flesh,  all  gathered  to  themselves.  Empty  out 
upon  some  island  of  the  sea,  all  your  prisons,  with  all  the 
'-  hells  "  of  your  populous  cities ;  all  the  haunts  of  licentious- 
ness and  crime  ;  all  the  dens  for  the  plotting  of  dishonesty. 
Let  there  be  no  virtuous  men  to  move  among  them.  Let  it 
be  the  place  where  law  with  its  threats  comes  not ;  where 
the  usages  of  respectable  life  with  their  restraints  come 
not ;  where  the  philanthropist  with  his  appeals  comes  not ; 
where  angels  and  ministers  of  mercy  come  not ;  where  the 
restraining  grace  of  God  comes  not ;  and.  hope  of  amendment 
comes  not ;  and  death  comes  not,  nor  the  fear  of  retribution 
after  death.  Let  all  the  fierce  Avickedness  that  is  in  them 
work  itself  out  in  a  carnival  of  every  lust  and  revelry  of 
every  passion  !  See  you  not  that  these  figures  of  the  scrip- 
tures for  such  a  state  of  existence,  instead  of  being  rhetorical 
exaggerations  are  but  the  feeblest  approximations  of  finite 
language  to  the  expression  of  infinite  ideas  of  terror. 

Here  is  the  fundamental  fallacy  of  all  those  scoflfs  at  the 
gospel  theology,  as  if  it  were  responsible  for  the  existence 
of  the  hell  from  which  Jesus  comes  to  redeem  men.  Hell 
is,  in  idea,  altogether  anterior  to  the  gospel  theology.  It 
would  have  flamed  none  the  less  fiercely  though  Jesus  had 
never  ccmc  with  the  gospel  remedy.     AVliether  the  gospel 


2S8  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH,  IIEAVE2:  &  HELL 

be  trustworthy  or  not,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  germ- 
inal fires  of  hell  do  exist  ah^oadv  in  the  nature  of  man. 
And  though  the  scoffers  of  these  ''  last  dajs "  should 
triumph,  and  crush  out  of  the  world's  thought  every  con- 
ception of  a  gospel,  still  these  passions  are  alive  in  the 
human  soul,  and  this  depravity,  with  its  inevitable  sorrow  ; 
and  so  long  as  the  soul  exists  must  exist  with  it,  save  by 
some  divine  interposition  such  as  they  scoff  at.  Will  men 
never  learn  that  scoffing  at  the  proposed  remedy  does  not 
stay  the  disease  ?  What  though  you  demoDstrate  the  quack- 
ery of  the  panacea  that  claims  to  be  a  sure  antidote  for 
cholera  ?  that  stays  not  the  still  tread  ''  of  the  pestilence  that 
walketh  in  darkness  !"  What  though  you  loathe  the  remedy 
which  science  has  compounded  for  your  sick  bed,  and  cast  it 
from  you  ?  That  gives  no  ease  to  your  aching  joints  or 
fevered  brain  !  What  though  in  your  peevishness,  you  strike 
down  the  arm  of  your  physician,  as  he  comes  to  hold  over 
you  the  shield  of  his  skill  and  ward  off  the  thick  flying  arrows 
of  death  ?  That  checks  not  the  advance  of  the  king  of 
terrors  to  lay  his  cold  hand  upon  you  and  claim  you  as  his 
prey  !  Now  the  gospel  is  simply  a  remedy  and  Jesus  Christ 
the  great  physician  whom  you  must  accept,  or  else  let  the 
disease  of  your  soul  work  out  the  agonies  of  the  second 
death. 

Silenced  by  this  argument,  though  it  has  failed  to  silence 
our  scoffers  yet  in  the  flesh — changing  the  plea — Hell  speaks  : 

"  /  yray  thee  tlierefore^  father,  that  thou  ivouldst  send 
him  to  my  father'  8  house:  for  I  have  five  bretJiren:  lest  they 
also  come  to  this  place  of  torment.''^ 

Next  to  his  own  torment  is  the  agony  of  the  thought  that 
the  brethren,  who  followed  his  godless  example  and  were  led 
astray  by  his  evil  influence,  should  come  to  suffer  with  him, 
and  thereby  increase  his  torment. 


THE    TRUE   MONUMENT   OF   A    SINFUL   LIFE.     280 

I  have  before  said  that  lie  liad  rcai-ed  his  own  true  monu- 
ment in  Ufo.  So  does  every  man  that  lives.  For  an 
influence,  for  blessing  or  for  cursing,  is  ever  going  out  from 
hiui,  and  the  results  will  gather  in  upon  hiui  in  the  eternity 
to  come.  Men  see  not  the  operation  of  this  principle  in  the 
present  life  ;  for  if  they  did  there  would  be  less  of  that 
ambition  to  Ijc  known  as  ringleaders  in  wickedness,  drawing 
followers  after  them  to  sin  ;  and  less  of  that  sort  of  merri- 
ment that  finds  its  sport  in  leading  one,  tenderly  reared  in 
seclusion,  to  swear  his  first  oath,  to  engage  in.  his  first  revel, 
to  do  his  first  act  of  open  contempt  for  God  and  religion. 
Wliat  if  the  w^orld's  ambitious  heroes,  panting  for  blood  and 
carnage,  and  for  the  adulation  of  sycophants,  lived  under 
such  a  la,/  here,  that  they  should  see  in  this  life  the  real 
monument  that  they  have  built  for  themselves  ?  What  if, 
instead  of  pyramid  of  brass  or  Parian  marble,  inscribed  w^ith 
its  lying  words,  erected  over  them  dead,  their  real  monument 
were  erected  visibly  around  them  yet  living?  What  if 
around  and  over  such  an  one  as  a  centre,  were  reared  a 
huge  hollow  pyramid  of  all  the  bones  wliich  his  ambition  has 
scattered  to  bleach  and  moulder ;  with  the  myriads  of  skulls 
facing  inward  to  grin  horribly  down  upon  him ;  with  all  the 
blood  which  his  cruelty  has  shed  perpetually  drizzling  and 
dripping  as  moisture  from  the  horrid  walls ;  with  the  sighs 
of  all  the  hearts  which  his  faithlessness  has  broken  moaning 
through  the  crevices,  as  moan  the  winds  of  autumn  ;  and 
ever  and  anon,  the  despairing  curses  of  all  the  ruined  howl- 
ing over  it,  as  howls  the  tempest  in  its  fury  ? 

Yet  analogous  to  this  is  the  commemoration  of  the  present 
m  the  future  life  ;  and  this  supposed  monument  is  the  type 
of  the  position  of  the  evildoer,  in  eternity,  with  respect  to 
his  life  here.  Every  man  is  building,  day  by  day,  his  monu- 
ment to  commemorate  his  life  on  earth  throughout  the  endless 
ages.     And  when  death  shall  tear  away  the  unseen  screen 

T 


290  THE  DiyiXE  TRAGEDY  OF  ExVRTH,  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

that  now  hides  the  seen  from  the  imseen,  he  will  behold  his 
iN^ork  all  finished. 

I  need  only  suggest  to  you  the  solemn  lesson  which  this 
cry  of  agony  should  have  for  godless  fathers  and  mothers, 
who  shall  be  held  even  more  strictly  responsible  for  the  five 
children  than  he  for  the  five  brethren.  If  they  pervert  that 
authority  whereby  they  stand  in  the  place  of  God  to  their 
children  during  infancy,  and  the  unbounded  influence  which 
they  exert  on  all  the  subsequent  life,  and  thus  not  only  lose 
their  own  crown,  but,  so  far  as  they  can,  tear  the  cvovfu  from 
the  heads  of  the  children  God  has  given — what  imagination 
shall  depict  the  agony  of  the  prayer  for  eternal  separation, 
in  that  world,  from  those  whom  they  loved  here  ! 

Heaven  responds : — "  The?/  have  3Ioses  and  the  Prophets; 
let  tliem  hear  themy 

They  are  without  excuse,  even  though  influenced  by  the 
evil  example  of  their  dead  brother  ;  for  they  had  all  neces- 
sary means  of  knowing  God's  will  ;  his  warnings  of  the  inevi- 
table doom  of  sin ;  and  his  kind  invitations  to  them  to  accept 
the  generous  atonement  provided  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the 
world.  0  brethren,  if  jMoses  and  the  Prophets  were  gospel 
enouo;h  to  leave  them  wi;hout  excuse,  then  what  excuse  for 
those  who,  on  the  back  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets  have  all 
the  wonderful  revelations  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  !  Recall, 
I  pray  you,  the  reasoning  of  the  Apostle,  "If  the  word  spoken 
by  angels  (messengers),  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  was  stead- 
fast, and  every  trangression  received  its  just  recompense  of 
reward  :  '  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salva- 
tion V  And  again,  "  He  that  despised  Moses'  law  died 
without  mercy ;  of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye, 
shall  he  be  thought  worthy  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the 
Son  of  God  ?" 

Ilell  speaks  : — Nay,  fathei-  Abraham  ;  hut  if  one  went 
unto  tkcr.ifrom  the  dead,  theij  Ml  repent ^ 


THE   INSINCERITY    OF    SCEPTICS    AND    CAVILLERS.    291 

Here  is  one  of  those  raarvcUous  portraitures  of  a  universal, 
in  an  individual  case,  at  a  single  stroke,  which  so  distinguish 
the  bihle  paintings  of  human  nature  under  the  calls  of  the 
gospel.  "  If  one  rose  from  the  dead ;"  if  the  proof  were 
made  clearer  ;  if  there  were  more  certainty  of  these  things  ; 
if  these  doctrines  were  not  so  puzzling  or  the  rectitude  of 
God'«  dealings  were  more  manifest ;  if  our  circumstances 
were  more  favourable  and  our  temptations  not  so  great ;  in 
short,  if  God  had  done  something  else  than  he  has  done,  or 
his  gospel  were,  in  some  manner  or  other,  different  from 
what  it  is — then  surely  we  would  be  Christians. 

Heaven  responds  finally: — '* If  theij  believe  not  Moses  and 
the  Prophets^  neither  ivill  they  he  persuaded  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead^     This  sentence  is  very  commonly  read  as 
intending  chiefly  to  assert  the  sufficiency  of  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  as  a  rule  of  faith,  which  truth  has  already  been 
asserted  in  the   preceding  response  ;   and  is  taken  as  the 
foundation  for  discourses  showing  the  fullness  of  the  evi- 
dences of  the  Old  Testament  revelation,  and  therefore  of  the 
New  Testament  also.     But  the  point  of  the  response,  evi- 
dently, is  directed  to  the  fallacy  of  the  appeal  just  made  ; 
and  to  assert  that  the  difficulty  in  the  way  of  sinners  is  not 
want  of  evidence,  but  want  of  heart,  in  themselves.     While 
it  indeed  asserts,  by  implication,  the  perfect  sufficiency  of  the 
evidence  for  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  it  means  also  to  assert 
that  no  matter  though. this  evidence  were  stronger,  the  result 
would  be  all  the  same.     For  in  fact  it  matters  little  to  unbe- 
lievers whether  the  proof  be  sufficient  or  not ;  since  they 
have  never  attended  to  the  subject  enough  to  know  whether 
it  be  so  or  not.     They  are  insincere  in  the  plea  of  w\ant  of 
proof,  want  of  harmony  in  the  doctrines,  and  want  of  consis- 
tency with  the  ethical  reason.     For  even  though  such  were 
the  fact,  they  have  never  examined  the  matter  enough  to 
know  it. 


292  THE  DIVINE  TRAGEDY  OF  EARTH;  HEAVEN  &  HELL. 

I  have  already  transcended  all  proper  limits  of  a  discourse, 
or  I  should  undertake  to  justify  most  fully  this  charge  of  the 
insincerity  of  the  unbelief  and  cavils  of  men  at  the  gospel. 
I  must  content  myself,  however,  with  a  general  remark  or 
two  for  the  special  benefit  of  such  of  you  as  may  sometimes 
be  tempted  to  feel  that,  if  the  religion  of  the  gospel  be  true, 
then  it  is  strange  that  so  large  a  part  of  the  world  have 
doubts  about  its  evidences,  and  difficulties  with  its  doctrines. 
Just  make  the  experiment  of  analyzing  this  crowd  of  un- 
believers, and  estimate  how  many  of  them  have  ever  gone 
into  the  question  far  enough  to  know  whether  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  Jesus  and  the  Apostles,  are  worthy  of  belief  or  not. 
Set  aside  first  the  great  crowd  of  the  ignorant,  the  stolid,  the 
sensual,  the  brutish  who  mock  at  hell  without  proof;  and 
mdeed,  have  neither  the  capacity  nor  the  intelligence  on  the 
question  of  religion,  to  comprehend  the  force  of  an  argument. 
Evidently  more  proof  could  do  them  no  good ;  for  of  what 
use  to  bring  more  proof  to  men  who  have  never  considered 
the  matter  enough  to  know  that  the  evidence  is  defective 
and  that  more  proof  is  wanting  ?  At  once  now  you  have 
cleared  the  field  of  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  unbelief  in 
the  world. 

Now  set  aside,  next,  the  class  who  disbelicTc  from  mere 
afiectation ; — the  youth  just  home  from  college,  supposing  he 
has  circumnavigated  this  great  ocean  of  science  from  the 
beach  of  which  Isaac  Newton  claimed  only  to  have  skipped 
stones,  as  a  child ;  and,  in  proof  of  his  attainments,  obtrud- 
ing his  difficulties  with  rehgion  on  distressed  mother  and 
sisters.  Or  that  class  of  minds  which,  in  this  regard,  never 
grow  old,  but  have  a  passion  for  the  display  of  their  origin- 
ahty  by  not  believing  what  people  generally  behove.  For 
what  proof  can  be  devised  that  shall  convince  affectation  ? 
And  now  we  have  again  greatly  thinned  the  ranks  of  unbe- 
lief.    Next,  set  aside  the  really  learned  and  gifted  sceptical 


THE   INSINCERITr   OF   SCEPTICS    AND    CAVILLERS.    203 

men  of  the  secular  professions,  who  will  lioncstly  tcU  you 
tliat  their  scepticism  arises  in  large  part,  perhaps,  from  their 
ambition,  while  students,  to  rise  in  their  profession,  or  the 
absorbing  pursuits,  after  they  have  risen,  which  have  never 
left  them  time  to  examine  the  question.  For  of  course  it  is 
of  no  use  to  send  Lazarus  from  the  dead,  to  affirm  the  truth 
of  Moses  and  tho  Prophets,  to  men  who  have  not  had  time  to 
know  what  Moses  has  said  ;  nor  time  either,  nor  inclination  to 
listen  to  Lazarus  unless  he  come  with  some  important  case  of 
worldly  business.  Now  you  have  left,  on  the  field  contro- 
versy, none  save  the  few  who  have  written  learned  books 
and  constructed  elaborate  arguments  against  Moses  and  the 
prophets.  And  of  these  I  have  space  to  make  the  suggestion, 
only,  that  he  who  examines  them  will  find  that  in  every  case 
where  the  plea  of  difficulty  and  want  of  proof  is  put  in,  the 
conscious  or  unconscious  insincerity  of  it  is  evinced  either  by 
the  palpable  ignorance  of  the  inspired  writer's  real  meaning, 
or  by  their  application  to  scripture  of  principles  of  evidence 
wdiich  common  sense  applies  to  no  other  writings ;  and  which 
if  applied  to  any  other  ancient  history,  literature,  or  philos- 
ophy, would  make  a  tabida  rasa  of  all  the  record  of  the 
thoughts  of  all  past  ages. 

But  this  critique  on  this  divine  tragedy  has  already,  I 
fear,  been  extended  beyond  the  limits  of  your  patience. 
Carry  with  you  the  infinitely  solemn  truths  which  it  has 
developed,  and  make,  for  yourselv^es,  the  obvious  application 
of  them  to  your  daily  life  :  remembering  that  Jesus  aims 
here  to  present  to  you  this  every  day-life  on  earth  as  it  will 
be  contemplated,  at  no  distant  period,  from  eternity,  without 
the  opportunity  then  to  change  the  results. 


DISCOURS  u  XIV. 

REDEMPTION  AS   PREACHED   AT   THE  FINAL   APOSTASY   OF  THE 

TYPICAL  KINGDOM  IN  THE  "  LIFTING  UP  "  AND   THE 

PIERCING  OF  JESUS  ON  THE  CROSS. 

JoHNxix.  15 — 37. — The  chiefpriestsansweredjWe  have  no  king  but  Coesar. 
Then  delivered  he  him,  therefore,  to  be  crucified.  And  they  took  Jesus  and 
led  him  away.  And  he,  bearing  his  cross,  went  forth  into  the  place  called 
the  place  of  a  skull  which  is  called  in  the  Hebrew  Golgotha  ;  where  they 
crucified  him  and  two  others  with  him,  on  either  side  one,  and  Jesus  in  the 
midst,  &c. 

But  one  of  the  soldiers  with  a  spear  pierced  his  side,  and  forthwith  came 
there  out  blood  and  water  *  *  *  And  another  scripture  saith,  they  shall 
look  on  him  whom  they  pierced. 

John  iii.  14,  and  xii.  32,  33. — And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wil- 
derness, even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up. 

And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me.  This  he  said  signi- 
fying what  death  he  should  die. 

A  thousand  years  of  preparation,  as  we  have  seen,  gathered 

the  material,  under  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  for  tlie  con- 
struction of  the  typical  gospel  kingdom  by  the  covenant  with 
David.  Through  another  thousand  years  of  wonderful  vicis- 
situde has  this  typical  kingdom  stood,  until  now  not  only  the 
faith  of  Jehovah's  saints  but  the  instincts  of  the  JcAvish 
masses  are  eagerly  anticipating  the  immediate  rise  of  the 
kingdom  which  it  foreshadowed,  and  asking  "  when  shall  the 
kingdom  of  God  appear  ?"  And  yet  the  coming  of  the  great 
Antitype  to  "  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  father  David,"  and 
to  establish  his  kingdom  from  sea  to  sea  that  "  all  nations 
may  flow  unto  it,"  has  only  accelerated  the  decay  of  all 
spiritual  life  out  of  the  typical  kingdom,  and  accelerated  its 
movement  toward  its  utter  and  final  apostasy.     ''  He  came 


296  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

unto  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not."  But  their 
very  passion  in  rejecting  him  is  used  as  the  instrument 
whereby,  through  his  death,  the  work  of  redemption  shall  be 
finished  ;  wlierebj  the  scaffolding  of  types  and  shadoAvs  shall 
be  taken  away,  and  the  finished  scheme  exhibited  in  all  its 
perfection  and  glory. 

As  the  germinal  truths  of  the  covenant  wdth  Abraham 
sprang  forth,  flowered  and  fruited,  and  then  shed  their  fruit 
to  germinate  anew  in  the  covenant  with  David,  organizing  the 
typical  kingdom ;  so  now,  these  truths,  having  again  sprung 
forth,  flowered  and  fruited,  must  shed  their  ft-uit  again  to 
germinate  anew  in  the  true  spiritual  kingdom  which  it  typi 
fied.  "  The  hour  has  come  "  that  "  the  corn  of  wheat  fall 
into  the  ground  that  it  abide  not  alone,  but  bring  forth  much 
fruit."  And  wonderfully  does  Jehovah  accomphsh  the  fulfill- 
ment of  his  promises  and  purposes  by  causing  the  very  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him !  On  this  memorable  Friday  morning, 
the  9th  of  April,  as  preparatory  to  the  great  act  which  sets 
up  the  spiritual  kingdom,  the  Church  of  all  nations — the  sub 
ject  of  all  types  and  symbols  and  prophecies — behold  the 
culmination  of  the  apostasy  of  the  typical  kingdom  of  David  ! 
The  oSicial  representatives  of  this  typical  kingdom,  mth  a 
representative  mob  of  the  masses  at  their  back,  are  here 
around  a  heathen  judgment  seat  clamouring  for  the  blood  of 
the  Son  of  David !  And,  as  the  unwilling  heathen  judge, 
irritated  to  contempt  and  bitterness  by  a  clamour  that  he 
despises  but  dares  not  resist,  yields  up  the  innocent  victim, 
arrayed  in  mock  royal  robes  and  crown,  cries  out  in  scorn 
and  derision,  "What!  shall  I  crucify  your  king?"  —  the 
maddened  nation  shouts,  "  We  have  no  kixCx  but  CiESAn!" 
The  very  Church  of  the  living  Jehovah  officially  utters  the 
blasphemy,  that  there  is  no  spiritual  kingdom — no  saviour 
King  for  the  throne  of  David  !     No  king  but  Csssar  ! 

Brethren,  docs  it  seem  inconceivable  to  you  that  the  visible 


FINxVL    APOSTASY   OF    THE    TYPICAL    KINGDOM.    297 

Church  of  God  on  earth  can  become  so  utterly  faithless  and 
apostate  ?  I  tell  you  nay,  such  must  ever  be  the  result,  in 
greater  or  less  degree,  from  any  similar  dropping  out  of  the 
gospel  spirit  from  the  doctrines  and  forms  of  the  Church. 
First  will  come  the  Erastian  inability  to  perceive  any  longer 
the  distinction  in  kind  between  the  spiritual  kingdom,  its 
government  and  obligations,  and  the  kingdom  of  Cnesar ; 
then,  naturally  enough,  the  spiritual  kingdom  is  cast  aside  as 
an  unnecessary  appendage  and  a  clog  to  the  gospel ;  then  the 
gospel  King  and  Priest  rejected,  and  the  shout  •'  no  king  but 
C^sar." 

The  very  greatness  of  the  fact  that  ''  Christ  died  and  rose 
again  according  to  the  Scriptures" — upon  which  fact  the 
whole  system  of  revealed  theology  turns,  as  upon  a  pivot — 
may  so  absorb  our  attention,  in  reading  this  story,  that  we 
may  overlook  the  illustrations  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  cru- 
cified, which  the  very  record  of  the  incidents  indicates  a 
purpose  to  furnish  us.  You  will  observe  that  the  Evangelists 
do  not  merely  record  the  great  fact  that  Jesus  was  crucified, 
as  the  Scriptures  had  foretold.  They  present  the  fact  before 
us  in  an  amazing  word  picture.  And,  as  the  skilful  artist,  in 
painting  some  ^-ast  object  out  of  the  range  of  ordinary  thought, 
surrounds  it  on  the  canvas  with  ordinary  objects, — men,  dwell- 
ings, animals  and  trees, — as  relative  measures,  whereby  we 
may  gather  by  comparison,  some  notion  of  tlie  vastness  of  the 
central  object :  so  these  inspired  painters,  in  presenting  tXe 
dying  Son  of  God,  set  him  forth,  not  in  solitary  grandeur  and 
vastness,  but  surrounded  by  human  objects — by  the  play  of 
human  passions,  the  outbreaks  of  human  wickedness,  the 
gush  of  human  sorrow — as  if  to  enable  us  at  a  glance  to 
perceive  the  immeasurable  grandeur  in  which  the  Man  of 
Sorrows  towers  above  these  merely  human  conceptions. 

Let  us  endeavour  to  transfer  ourselves  back  to  that  memor- 
able Friday  morning  in  Jerusalem,  and  study  the  scenes  which 


298  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FRO?.!  THE  CROSS- 

are  enacted  there,  after  this  formal  act  of  apostasy  bj  the 
representatives  of  the  nation  in  shouting,  "  No  king  but 
Caesar !''  We  shall  find  in  them  rich  lessons  of  instruction ^ 
both  on  the  human,  and  the  divine  side  of  the  gospel  system. 

Attracted  toward  the  court  by  this  shout,  '•  No  king  but 
Caesar,"  we  find  the  judge  just  in  the  act  of  yielding,  under 
the  popular  cry,  "  If  thou  let  this  man  go,  thou — art  not 
Caesar's  friend ;"  for  he  dreads  the  utterance  of  such  a  charge, 
however  absurd,  in  the  ears  of  the  irritable  Tiberius,  his 
master.  Therefore  be  gives  sentence  as  they  demand ;  but 
^'  he  took  water  and  washed  his  hands  before  the  multitude 
saying,  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just  person." 

Singular  paradox  ;  a  magistrate  innocent  of  the  blood  of 
one  whom  judicially  he  murders,  while  declaring  him  just  in 
the  same  breath  !  No,  no  1  Pilate,  think  not  with  water  to 
wash  off  that  stain  of  blood  from  thy  hands.  For,  falling 
upon  the  official  hand  that  pretends  to  weigh  justice  in  the 
balance,  its  stain  hath  struck  too  deep  for  any  water  cleansing. 
The  untitled,  powerless,  private  man,  forced  by  the  mob  to 
deeds  of  cruelty,  might  perhaps  with  the  tears  of  ingenuous 
sorrow  wash  out  the  blood  spot!  But  thou  art  imperial 
Caesar's  legate,  Pilate.  Thine  is  the  strong  arm  of  the  law, 
flashing  its  gleaming  sword,  by  God's  ordinance,  in  the  defence 
of  innocence,  as  well  as  in  vengeance  on  guilt.  Thy  gorgeous 
ermine  is  full  wide  to  shelter  in  its  ample  folds  this  torn  and 
bleeding  lamb  that  the  fierce  dogs  of  bigotry  are  thus  savagely 
pursuing.  With  all  thy  pompous  pretence  to  dignity  and 
chivalrous  Roman  honour,  thou  art  but  a  miserable  pedlar  in 
blood  !  Baser  than  Judas  whose  narrow  soul  thought  thirty 
pieces  of  silver  a  worthy  price,  thou  art  selling  him  over  again 
for  a  worthless  smile  from  these  ecclesiastical  bloodhounds, 
whom  every  manly  instmct  of  thy  nature  loathes  and  abhors ! 
Thou  art  a  poor  coward^,  Pilate,  that  thou  fearcst  such  a  mob> 
with  the  strong  arm  of  Caesar  to  defend  thee,  and  the  broad 


HANDAVASniNG   MAGISTRATES.  299' 

shield  of  eternal  justice  to  hold. before  thee  !  No,  Pilate,  no! 
Not  all  the  waters  of  Jordan  that  washed  leprous  Naaman 
clean ;  not  all  the  waters  that  ever  gushed  from  the  rills  of 
Siloam;  not  all  the  tears  of  sorrow  that  shall  flow  through 
eternity  for  thy  sin,  shall  ever  wash  off  that  stain  of  blood ! 
Yet  how  common  seems  this  mistake  of  Pilate,  that  the 
unrighteous  judgment  of  an  official,  given  under  pressure  of 
strong  temptations  from  personal  consideration, — either  of 
desire  to  win  popular  favour ;  or  avaricious  hankering  after 
gain ;  or  the  impulses  of  partisan  malice  or  party  obligations 
may  be  atoned  for,  by  giving  the  innocent  the  benefit  of 
one's  personal  convictions  and  professions  as  an  off-set  against 
the  damage  to  him  of  one's  villainous  official  deed ;  and  that 
it  is  enough  to  perform  a  little  penitential  handwashing  for 
the  filthy  job  done  to  popular  order!     How  little  do  men 
seem  to  comprehend  the  solemn  truth  that,  as  in  the  Church, 
under  his  revealed  law,  God  hath  appointed  his  ministers  to 
be  his  representatives,  and  will  surely  punish  the  corrui)t  and 
unfaithful  servants,  so  in  the  state,  under  that  natural  law 
which  be  hath  revealed  to  all  men  alike.     ''  The  powers  that 
bo  are  ordained  of  God;"  and  will  likewise  be  held  accouni- 
able  to  God.     That  the  magistrate,  called  by  the  public  voice 
to  office,  is  in  his  sphere,  '^  the  minister  of  God  for  good,"  to 
the  upright  citizen,  and  the  minister  of  God,  "■  a  revenger  to- 
execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil."     And  every  curse 
threatened  against  official  unfaithfulness  in  the  Church,  lies 
with  all  its  force,  in  the  other  sphere  also,  against  the  magis- 
trate who  misrepresents  and  caricatures  God's  essential  justice. 
Ye  cowardly  hand-washers  !  If  ye  have  not  the  manly  courage 
to  breast  the  billows  of  popular  fury,  and  make  your  official 
voice  heard  above  all  the  howls  of  the  mob,  then  why  thrush 
yourselves  into  places  to  which,  obviously,  God  hath  not  called, 
you  ?  If  Tiberius,  jnoved  by  the  popular  clamour  threaten  you, 
then  tell  Tiberius  and  the  mob,  "  we  ought  to  obey  God  rather 


300  EEDEMPTION"  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

than  men,"  and  go  into  exile  with  a  clear  conscience  foryoui 
companion.  To  the  sort  of  men  whom  God  calls  to  represent 
him,  the  passion  of  Tiberius  and  the  curses  of  the  mob  are 
sweet  music  compared  with  the  accusings  of  conscience  1 
Beware  how  ye  make  light  of  bartering  justice,  either  for  the 
popular  smile,  or  for  place,  or  for  gold.  If  bj  a  righteous 
Providence  ye  be  not  driven  to  Pilate's  doom  of  exile,  and 
suicide,  like  Judas;  yet,  be  assured  that,  amid  the  curses 
of  the  ruined,  the  wails  of  the  heart-broken  and  the  moans  of 
the  murdered  ringing  in  your  ears,  ye  shall  wash,  and  wash 
in  vain  at  that  blood-spot  throughout  eternity  ! 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  when  public  virtue  hath  come 
to  such  a  pass,  that  the  clamour  of  the  mob,  instead  of  the 
■  covenanted  law,  must  find  utterance  through  Pilate  on  the 
bench  ;  or,  that  popular  sentiment  regards  Pilate's  use  of  his 
official  authority  for  personal  ends  either  of  avarice,  ambition 
•or  passion,  as  a  venial  sin  of  natural  infirmity,  that  a  little 
handwashing  may  atone  for ;  then  may  we  know  that  the  day 
of  political  doom  is  nigh  such  a  people,  even  at  their  doors  ; 
for  now,  "  judgment  lingereth  not  and  damnation  slumbereth 
not."  The  judgment  upon  such  a  people  hath  in  fact  already 
begun. 

We  follow,  where  the  mob  has  led  the  way  with  its  victim, 
through  an  eastern  gate  of  the  city ;  and  find  here  gathered 
upon  and  around  a  curious  skull-shaped  hillock,  a  motley 
•crowd,  all  intensely  excited,  as  they  gaze  at  the  scene 
transpiring  on  the  summit :  Beginning  first  our  study  of  the 
ordinary  and  relative  figures  of  the  picture,  our  attention 
cannot  but  be  attracted  by  the  movements  of  scribes  and 
lawyers — public  opinion  manufacturers — gathering  each 
around  him  a  little  knot  of  listeners,  dehghted  with  the 
familiarity  of  the  great  men,  and  eager  to  hear  what  they  will 
have  to  say.  They  discuss  the  various  rumours  of  plots  and 
treasons  concocted  by  this  Jesus :  the  positive  testimony  of 


now    MAX   EECEIVES    THE    CROSS    PREACHING.     301 

the  -witnesses  that  he  threatened  to  destroy  the  temple  ;  and 
his  bhasphemous  confession  that  he  claimed  to  be  the  Son  of 
God.  They  horn  and  re-horn  the  condemned  on  their  mer- 
ciless dilemmas,  after  this  iiisliion  ;  either  he  can  deliver 
himself  from  deatli  and  -will  not ;  or  he  would  deliver  himself 
and  cannot.  If  he  can  and  will  not,  he  perishes  justly,  for 
liis  stubborn  wilfulness.  If  he  would  do  it  but  cannot,  then 
he  dies  justly  as  a  blasphemous  impostor,  who  has  falsely 
been  claiming  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  And  the  simple  crowd 
gape  with  wonder  at  the  learned  men,  a,nd  are  surprised  they 
never  had  thought  of  so  obvious  a  truth  before.  Busy  among 
the  crowd  too  arc  holy  priests  and  Pharisees,  moving  Avith 
unwonted  condescension  and  familiarity  among  the  common 
herd ;  seemingly  heedless  of  the  rumpling  their  fringed 
borders,  and  their  enormous  phylacteries,  in  their  zeal  to  have 
the  people  duly  instructed  in  the  merits  of  the  case  !  And 
they  have  occasion  to  use  all  their  zeal  ;  for  the  people  are 
easily  swayed  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.  It  was  only  on 
Monday  last  that,  as  Jesus  approached  the  city,  they  gave  him 
an  ovation  which  Governor  Pilate  himself  might  well  have 
envied.  IS'ever  had  Mount  Zion  and  Moriali  echoed  with 
more  hearty  Ilosannahs.  And  beside,  among  this  crowd  are 
many  whom  Jesus  has  healed  of  disease,  or  whose  friends  he 
has  healed ;  and  they  feel  grateful  to  him.  And  to  many  also 
his  words  have  a  strange  fascination.  Such  impulses  brood- 
ing in  the  hearts  of  the  people  may  burst  forth  at  any  moment 
if  there  be  exciting  cause.  And  as  the  deed  now  done  is 
incongruous,  alike  with  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  and  the 
Jqwish  law,  any  tumult  which  may  cause  inquiry  at  Home 
may  prove  disastrous  both  to  Pilate  and  the  Sanhedrim. 

All  these  matters,  however,  arc  duly  cared  for.  Hour 
after  hour  bears  witness  to  the  skill  and  strategy  of  these  holy 
dignitaries  of  the  Church.  The  infection  of  the  official  logic,, 
wit  and  raillery  becomes  general.     Louder  and  more  wide 


o02  KEDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

spread  are  the  sliouts  of  laughter  at  the  drollery  of  the  mob 
jesters,  as  they  wag  their  heads,  and  hurl  the  keen  shafts 
of  their  satire.  Ah  !  thou  temple  destroyer,  and  temple  re- 
builder  !  Try  thine  Almighty  hand  now  !  Thou  omnipotent 
Messiah  of  the  prophets,  display  thine  omnipotence  ?  Thou 
saintly  truster  in  God  ;  let  us  soe  if  God  will  deliver  thee  ! 
Till  shuddering,  at  the  worse  than  brutal  ferocity  of  the 
human  wild  beasts,  we  shrink  back  as  from  the  opened  portals 
of  hell. 

We  observe  another  of  these  relative  objects  of  the  paint- 
ing, yonder  in  the  back  ground.  It  is  the  multitude  of 
women  who  have  followed  him  out  of  the  city.  Motionless 
and  terror-stricken  they  gaze  and  listen  with  horror  at  the 
cruel  yells,  and  though  with  instinctive  modesty,  they  shrink 
Iback  from  the  noisy  crowd  and  stand  afar  off,  yet,  as  by  some 
fascinating  spell,  they  are  bound  to  the  spot.  Among  them 
we  may  suppose  moves  neither  pompous  Pharisee  nor  witty 
official,  nor  astutely  reasoning  lawyer.  The  heart  and  the 
understanding  of  woman — save  when  she  is  utterly  abandoned 
of  God's  Spirit,  as  some  tigress  Jezebel — while  she  contem- 
plates suffering,  is  a  poor  theatre  for  the  success  either  of  the 
studied  wit  of  the  official  or  the  keen  logic  of  the  lawyer. 
The  intuitive  aversion  of  her  heart  to  cruelty  annihilates  the 
lieartless  jest;  and  the  stubborn  dogmas  of  her  unanalyzing  but 
unerring  judgment,  dashes  in  peices  the  flippant  logic  that 
pretends  to  justify  barbarity  and  bloodshed.  If  she  cannot 
argue  against  cruelty,  she  can  yet  weep  over  it.  Nor  shall 
stately  smile  of  high  official,  nor  soloDin  pomp  of  Pharisee,  nor 
brilliant  logic  of  lawyer  ever  change  the  conviction  of  her 
very  heart  of  hearts,  that  wanton  mockery  at  the  agonies  of 
the  suffering  is  not  un-manlike  and  un-godlike.  They  stand 
and  weep,  and  wring  their  hands.  It  is  not  the  utterance  of 
a  true  faith  in  Jesus ;  but  the  deep  natural  sympathies  of  a 
womanly  heart. 


THE    RELATIVE  FIGURES    AT    THE    CRUCIFIXION-.     303 

Within  this  outer  circle,  and  nearer  tlie  centre  of  the  knoll 
is  another  of  these  relative  ohjects,  illustrating  the  singular 
contrasts  of  humanity  hrought  in  contact  Avitli  the  wonders  of 
the  gospel.  It  is  a  little  cluster  of  military  men,  sitting  as 
calm  and  unmoved  as  if  lounging  at  some  Roman  outpost. 
Four  of  them  seem  to  bo  intent  upon  a  game  of  chance  ;  the 
stake  being  a  beautiful  homespun  robe  without  seam,  evi- 
dently the  work  of  delicate  fingers,  as  a  gift  of  affection. 
Under  the  stony  eye  of  the  soldier  we  detect  the  liyena  glance 
of  the  gambler,  as  the  successive  throws  of  the  dice  indicate 
hope  or  despair  of  Avinning  the  prize.  But  how  does  amaze- 
ment fill  our  hearts,  as  the  thought  occurs  of  the  old  prophet's 
complaint  who  seems  to  wake  from  the  dead,  after  a  thousand 
years,  and  wail  over  the  scene, — "  They  parted  my  garments 
among  them,  and  upon  my  vesture  did  they  cast  lots."  The 
iiisimincant  toss  of  a  Roman  soldier's  hand  is  executinsr  the 
eternal  decrees  of  God,  and  registering  the  description  that 
marks  the  stripped  owner  of  this  robe  as  the  Messiah  to  whom 
the  prophets  bare  witness  ? 

Raising  now  our  eyes,  we  behold  a  fourth  of  these  relative 
objects  of  the  picture.  A  sight  at  which  cruelty  itself  may 
well  shudder  !  On  two  upright  posts,  with  horizontal  beams 
near  the  top,  hang  suspended  two  victims,  after  a  fashion 
which  could  have  been  devised  only  by  a  demon.  Through 
each  hand,  extended  to  the  horizontal  beam  is  driven  a  spike 
crushing  through  that  delicate  congeries  of  nerves  and  mus- 
cles which  marks  the  hand,  so  evidently,  as  a  work  divinely 
fachioned.  Through  the  feet  a  similar  spike  is  driven,  nail- 
ing them  together  to  the  upright  post ;  and  thus  the  victim, 
left  no  other  support  than  a  small  projection  on  which  he  sits, 
hangs  quivering,  and,  in  the  writhings  of  his  agony,  lacera- 
ting the  torn  hands  and  feet  more  and  more. 

They  both  justly  suffer  the  same  penalty  of  crime  ;  but 
with  far  different  spirit,   as  is  obvious   by    their   look    and 


304  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS- 

behaviour.  He  on  oar  right  ahnost  extinguishes  our  sym- 
pathy in  our  cold  shudder  at  the  iicrce  malignity  of  liis  nature. 
The  effect  of  the  intense  suffering  draws  out  to  the  surface, 
as  it  Avere,  the  wormwood  and  gall  of  a  spirit  long  used  to 
crime  against  society.  He  is  an  enemy  to  mankind,  and 
mankind  an  enemy  to  him.  It  but  adds  to  the  fierceness  of 
his  hatred,  to  find  himself  at  last  a  helpless  victim.  As  the 
nails  lacerate  under  the  nervous  twitchings  of  his  writhing 
body,  and  the  intolerable  pain  causes  him  to  cry  out,  the 
lurid  firej.  of  hell  seem  to  light  up  his  eye.  He  curses  the 
world,  curses  himself,  curses  God.  And  as  he  curses,  turn- 
ing a  fierce  glance  upon  the  uncomplaining  sufferer  at  his 
side,  he  joins  in  the  fiendish  sport  of  the  mob,  and  cries, 
''  Ah,  thou  saintly  Messiah,  come  down  from  thy  cross  and 
take  mo  down."  True  to  the  life  this  horrible  picture  of  the 
self-righteous  sinner !  ''  If  I  am  a  robber,  still  I  am  not  one 
of  these  saintly  pretenders  !  I  never  pretended  to  be  what 
I  am  not.*'  See,  here,  you  that  make  this  self-righteous 
boast  to  keep  you  at  ease  in  sin,  see  here  the  style  of  your 
religion  in  that  dying  hour  to  which  you  put  off  the  gosj)el 
call !     Men  are  apt  to  die  just  as, they  have  lived  ! 

To  our  left  hangs  the  other,  in  outward  appearance  at  first 
sight  not  unlike  this  blasphemer.  But  we  readily  discover 
him  to  be  the  reverse  in  every  indication  of  character.  The 
naturally  harsh  and  fierce  demeanour  has  been  subdued.  He 
struggles  to  bear  his  torture  without  a  murmur.  A  calm 
serene  joy  seems  to  have  suddenly  settled  upon  his  spirit. 
Wliere  suffering  abounds  some  felt  joy  much  more  abounds. 
Now  his  eyes  are  raised  to  heaven  as  in  thanksgiving  ; 
and  tears  fill  them,  as  he  whispers  his  gratitude.  He  has, 
a  little  while  ago,  heard  the  sufferer  at  his  side  in  the 
midst  of  the  scoffs  and  jeers,  praying  "  Father  forgive 
them,  they  know  not  what  they  do."  And  the  conviction 
at   once   flashed   upon   his  soul   that   one  who    could   thus 


RELATIVE  FIGURES   AT    TUE   CRUCIFIXION.       oOj 

pray  must  be  more  than  man,  and  is  sure  enough  the  Saviour 
Messiah!  With  the  heroic  faith  which  such  a  conviction 
evinces — a  faith  that  couki  penetrate  through  all  the  darkness 
that  now  overhangs  the  man  of  sorrows,  and  discover  in  him 
still  Christ  the  son  of  God,  he  breathes  his  simple  petition, 
'•  Lord  remember  mo  when  then  comest  into  thy  kingdom." 
And  at  once  he  receives  the  assurance,  "  To-day  shalt  thou 
bo  with  me  in  Paradise  !" 

Ye,  that  are  trusting  to  the  dying  prayer  for  the  remission 
of  sin  and  acceptance  Avith  God,  note  this  case  closely,  and 
you  will  discover  that  it  oflfers  you  no  encouragement  in  your 
procrastination.  There  is  one  case  recorded  that  none  may 
despair  and  say,  too  late  !  But  that  case,  remember,  is  not  of 
one  who  has  all  life  long  been  warned,  and  yet  has  spurned  a 
thousand  calls  ?  Nor  is  it  probable  that  a  poor  halting,  pro- 
crastinating, double-minded  sinner,  who  puts  olf  till  death  the 
great  work  of  life,  will  be  able  to  exercise  such  a  faith  as  the 
poor  thief  in  the  agony  of  death. 

At  the  foot  of  the  central  cross  we  find  a  fifth  of  these 
relative  objects ;  one  every  way  calculated  to  arouse  all  the 
sympathies  of  the  heart.  It  is  a  group  of  four ;  three  women 
all  of  the  same  name,  and  a  young  man  of  beautiful  figure 
and  manly  countenance  ;  mild  and  gentle  in  look  as  a  lamb, 
yet  determined,  bold  and  unyielding  as  a  lion.  He  is  facing 
boldly  the  derision  and  scofifs  of  the  mob ;  and  his  heroic 
faithfulness  and  attachment  to  his  .suffering  friend  seems  to 
compel  for  him  the  respect  and  regard  even  of  that  brutal 
crowd.  For,  down  in  the  depths  of  human  nature,  lies  hid  an 
instinctive  respect  for  the  man  that  stands  by  his  friend  in 
spite  of  all  hostility  and  hate.  It  was  not  probably,  because 
he  had  more  faith  tlian  the  other  disciples  that  John  stood 
here  when  all  had  forsaken  him ;  but  rather  that  the 
manly  and  sympathising  soul  of  John  could  not  endure  the 
thought  of  leaving  the  poor  old  mother  to  stand  there  heart- 

u 


306  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

broken  alone.  For  one  of  this  group  is  Mary  the  mother  of 
Jesus. 

For  eighteen  hundred  years  Art,  in  all  her  forms,  has 
laboured  to  give  expression  to  the  sorrows  of  Mary,  yet, 
though  hers  is  a  human  grief, — the  gushing  forth  of  a  sorrow 
that  has  gathered  to  bursting  in  a  human  heart, — Art  has 
never  reached  the  desired  goal.  Poetry  has  lavished  all  its 
epithets  and  symbols  of  grief;  Music  has  contributed  everj 
conceivable  note  of  its  scale.  Painting  has  employed  all  its 
most  touching  lines  of  sorrow;  Statuary  has  chiselled  the 
softest  and  saddest  outlines  of  which  the  marble  is  expressive 
— And  yet,  which  of  all  has  so  perfectly  suggested  all  the 
depths  of  the  sorrow  to  our  imagination  as  the  evangelist 
John  who  stood  at  her  side  when,  at  one  stroke  of  the  word 
painting  pencil,  he  says,  "  Noiv  there  stood  at  the  cross  of 
Jesus,  Ms  mother.''^  What  Art  or  eloquence  of  speech  can 
add  anything  to  that  conception  ;  such  a  mother  witnessing 
such  a  son,  in  the  agonies  of  such  a  death  ? 

Thirty  years  ago,  the  old  man  of  God  in  the  temple  uttered 
the  prophetic  words,  "yea  a  sword  shall  pierce  through 
thine  own  soul  also."  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
that  to  the  daughter  of  Eli  filled  with  glorious  memories 
of  the  past  histoiy  of  her  people,  and  of  still  more  glorious 
hopes  of  the  future  kingdom  of  Messiah,  all  this  should  be 
taken  as  merely  some  strong  figure  of  speech.  How  should 
it  be  otherwise  when  to  her,  a  youthful  maiden,  as  the  last  of 
the  line  of  David,  Jehovah's  own  angel  had  declared,  "  Thou 
art  highly  favoured  among  women."  And,  educated  as  she 
had  been  in  the  oracles  of  God,  as  interpreted  by  her  age,  it 
is  not  wonderful  that  she  should,  in  the  ardour  of  youth  and 
hope,  indulge  in  the  loftiest  expectations  of  the  power  and 
glory  of  her  son  as  the  Prince  of  the  house  of  David.  That 
she  should  in  her  dreams  see,  in  the  brilliant  prospective,  the 
array  of  a  saintly  conquering  host ;  and  gorgeous  palaces  and 


THE   TREMENDOUS    FACTS    OF    JESUS'    DEATH.      oOT 

untold  splendours,  and  Jesus  her  son,  "  fairest  of  the  sons  of 
men,"  standing  as  the  author,  the  centre,  the  ruler  of  all  ? 
True  she  must  have  read  in  the  prophets  much  to  dash  such 
expectations.  For,  amid  all  their  poans  of  glory  there  came 
up  ever  the  wail  of  the  "  man  of  sorrows,  acquainted  with 
grief."  Bat  how  should  she  understand  such  prophecies  when 
the  whole  learning  and  wisdom  of  her  age  passed  them  bj  as 
insignificant  or  to  be  understood  only  in  a  figurative  sense  ? 

What  a  wreck  of  fond  hopes !  What  a  dashing  in  pieces 
of  splendid  visions !  As  she  now  sees  the  Royal  Son  of 
David  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  hanging  in  agony,  an  out- 
cast from  earth  and  heaven !  I  fancy  the  words  of  the 
youthful  John  fall  powerless  on  the  dull  ear  of  her  faith,  as 
he  tries  to  comfort  her.  He  doubtless  tells  her,  "  despair 
not  yet ;  Jesus  told  us  last  night  at  the  table — Let  not  your 
hearts  be  troubled ;  beheve  in  God  and  believe  also  in  me.  It 
is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away."  But  you,  cliildren  of 
affliction,  who  have  hung  around  the  death  agonies  of  a  child  : 
ye  know  by  experience,  how  dull  the  ear  of  faith  is  then ! 
How,  when  even  the  departing  ones  assure  you,  "  it  is  expe- 
dient for  you  that  I  go  away,"  you  cannot  comprehend  the 
lesson.  Have  ye  had  also  something  of  Mary's  glorious  ex- 
perience fifty  days  after  this,  when  the  amazmg  out-pouring 
of  the  Spirit  demonstratecl  how  expedient  it  was  that  Jesus 
should  go  away  ? 

We  direct  our  attention  now  to  the  great  central  object  of 
this  gospel  word  picture.  And  the  first  incident  that  we 
observe,  beautifully  connects  him,  as  human,  with  these 
human  objects  around  him.  Aroused  by  the  moans  of  the 
poor  heart-broken  mother  at  his  feet,  from  the  deep  thought 
which  appears  to  absorb  his  mind,  he  seems  as  one  making 
final  arrangement  of  his  earthly  aSfairs  preparatory  to  his 
departure.  Turning  his  eyes,  all  full  of  human  kindness  and 
.sympathy,  to  the  sorrow-stricken  mother  and  the  young  friend 


308  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

at  her  side ;  his  countenance  lights  up  almost  with  a  smile  at 
the  thought,  that  one  of  the  twelve  has  proved  himself  worthy 
of  trust  in  any  emergency.  The  noble  young  friend  that  no 
danger  could  deter  from  standing  by  the  son,  will  never 
desert  the  mother  in  her  old  age  and  helplessness !  As  Mary 
and  John  both  look  up  with  earnestness,  seeing  that  he  will 
speak,  Jesus  saith  in  the  simple  majesty  of  heart  language — 
to  Mary  "  Behold  thy  son  !"— to  John  "  Behold  thy  mother  !" 

Let  it  console  you  who  ofttimes  come  to  the  throne  of  grace 
with  a  heavy  heart,  because  of  the  impenitency,  the  dangers 
or  the  suffering  of  this  son,  this  daughter,  this  husband,  bro- 
ther, father,  mother — that  you  come  to  a  Saviour  who  can 
sympathise  with  you  in  all  the  tender  solicitudes  of  these 
dear,  relations.  Nor  are  your  little  domestic  sorrows  beneath 
the  notice  of  so  exalted  a  King.  Say  to  him  in  faith — 
"  Behold  my  son  !" — my  mother,  my  husband,  my  brother, 
my  father,  my  daughter  ;  and  you  shall  not  go  away  unblest. 

Now,  as  if  done  with  all  earthly  cares,  he  drops  back  into 
those  mysterious  contemplations  and  inward  throes  which 
manifestly  absorb  his  soul.  It  is  this  awful  absorption  of 
spirit,  amid  all  the  agonies  of  the  flesh,  that  at  once  distin- 
guishes the  central  victim  as  at  an  infinite  remove  from  all 
mere  human  sufferers.  He  is  "  treading  the  wine  press 
alone  ;  of  the  people  there  is  none  with  him."  And  as  now 
we  attempt  to  scrutinize  the  pale  countenance,  there  is  an 
overpowering  awe  and  majesty  in  its  calm  contemplative 
communion  with  some  inward  grief  that  utterly  baffles  and 
repels  us  from  the  task.  There  is  such  an  apparent  uncon- 
sciousness of  external  pains,  while  every  nerve  and  muscle  of 
the  bodily  system  is  on  the  rack  of  torture,  as  fills  us  wiih 
amazement.  We  discern  in  a  moment  that  the  acutest  pene- 
tration can  never  gather  from  the  external  countenance  here 
the  infinite  emotions  that  prey  upon  the  soul  within.  All  the 
genius  of  the   dramatist  is   here  at  fault.     The   pencil   of 


THE   TREMENDOUS   FACTS    OF   JESUS*    DEATH.      309 

Raphael,  or  the  chisel  of  Phidias,  drops  from  the  discouraged 
hand  of  the  genius  that  dares  the  attempt.  Ilcncc  no  truly 
enlightened  Christian  soul  ever  looked  upon  a  [)icturc  of  the 
crucifixion,  however  ex([uisitc  as  a  work  of  art,  without  the 
impression,  how  infinitely  short  the  picture  falls  of  present- 
ing the  Jesus  of  his  soul's  ideal  ;  nay  without  an  instinctive 
shrinking  from  it  as  a  profane  mockery  !  Genius  can  paint 
or  carve  Jesus  the  man  bearing  his  cross,  or  the  cross  bearing 
the  man  Jesus :  but  only  as  genius  may  paint  or  carve  the 
thieves  on  either  side  of  him.  But  genius  can  no  more  paint 
or  carve  the  Christ  on  the  cross  bearing  the  sins  of  the  world 
than  it  can  create  a  world.  All  the  externals  here  fall  infi- 
nitely short  of  expressing  the  struggle  of  his  mighty  soul  in 
conflict  with  principalities  and  powers. 

And,  therefore,  it  will  be  found  that,  just  in  proportion  as 
a  man  is  drilled  into  an  adoration  of  Jesus  throu<2;h  the  out- 
ward  image  of  him,  will  the  true  idea  of  Jesus  as  an  atoning 
sacrifice  for  sin  drop  out  of  the  consciousness  of  his  faith. 
And  just  in  proportion  as  the  Church  magnifies  the  import- 
ance of  the  external ;  parading  everywhere  the  cross,  the 
crucifix,  the  painting  of  the  scene  on  Golgotha,  just  in  that 
proportion  do  the  great  spiritual  truths  of  the  cross  drop  out 
of  the  consciousness  of  the  Church  ;  and  her  worship  become 
a  mere  soulless,  unspiritual  symbolism,  appeaUng  to  the  imagi- 
nation rather  than  to  the  spiritual  depths  of  the  soul. 

It  is  now  high  noon — fhe  sixth  hour — twelve  o'clock. 
Behold,  as  we  gaze,  there  are  indications  of  inward  agony  as 
from  a  burdened  conscience !  A  change  passes  upon  that 
calm  countenance !  A  strange,  mysterious  change !  It  is 
the  expression  of  one  agitated  at  the  thought  of  sin  ;  and  an 
awful  mysterious  struggle  is  going  on  in  the  soul !  Is  then 
this  sufferer,  that  even  Pilate  declared  to  be  a  "just  person," 
conscious  of  some  transcendent  guilt,  unknown  to  all  save 
himself?     How  suspicions — just  as  foretold  by  the  prophet — 


310    KEDEMPTIOX    AS    TREACIIED    ERO:\r   THE    CROSS. 

"begin  to  arise  in  our  sinking  lieo.rts  !  "  Surely  ho  is  stricken, 
smitten  of  God  and  afflicted."  It  may,  possibly,  not  bo  virtue 
suffering  with  heroic  fortitude  because  supported  hj  a  clear 
conscience.  It  is  possible  that  man  could  find  no  fault  in  him, 
yet  God  sees  and  his  own  conscience  feels,  a  terrible  pressure 
under  some  guilt  of  immeasurable  enormity. 

Nature,  as  if  in  sympathy  with  our  dark  mysterious  sus- 
picions, lays  off  her  sunshine  and  cheerfulness,  and  "  from 
the  sixth  hour  there  is  darkness  over  all  the  land  till  the 
ninth  hour."  As  the  anguish  of  him  on  the  cross  grows  more 
terrible,  deeper  and  darker  becomes  the  gloom,  till  the  noisy, 
profane  mob  is  awed  into  silence.  Terror  begins  to  reign  in 
the  stoutest  hearts.  Many  steal  away  at  the  beginning  of 
the  darkness  back  to  the  city ;  others  follow  as  the  darkness 
thickens  :  those  that  remain  stand  fixed  to  the  spot  by  the 
fascination  of  their  very  terror.  For  three  long  hours  the 
struggle  goes  on  in  that  mighty  soul :  till  even  faith  begin3 
to  fear  the  worst — that  the  sufferer  will  sink  under  the  crush- 
ing weight  and  die  under  every  visible  token  of  God's  dis- 
pleasure. 

But  as  it  approaches  the  hour  of  evening  sacrifice — 
suddenly  all  are  startled  by  the  strong  cry  from  the  sufferer, 
whom  they  supposed  too  feeble  to  utter  anything  above  the 
low  murmuring  wail  of  the  dying.  The  words  ring  as  though 
the  Psalmist  prophet  had  come  forth  from  the  sepulchre  of  the 
kings  to  rehearse  his  wail :  and  it  echoes  back  from  Mount 
Zion — "  Moil  Eloi.  lama  sabaclithani ! — My  God  !  my  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  !"* 


*  Dr.  Bushnell,  who,  after  regaining  somewhat  the  lost  confidence  of  the 
Christian  public  by  his  able  discussion  of  the  "  New  Life  "  and  "Christian 
Nurture,"  seems  to  have  fallen  into  an  almost  insane  hate  for  the  doctrine  of 
Christ's  atonement  as  expiatory,  and  declares  that,  rather  than  believe 
Luther's  justification  by  faith,  the  "  Article  of  the  standing  or  falling 
church,"  he  would  see  the  church  fall — strangely  enough  dares  to  say,  in  a 


THE  TREMENDOUS  FACTS  OF  JESUS'  DKATII.   -TH 

It  is  the  true  type  of  every  believing  prayer  that  ascends  to 
the  ear  of  God.  "  My  God,"  still !— "  Yea  t'hough  he  slay  me, 
yet  will  I  trust  in  him."  That  appeal  to  the  Father's  heart 
is  never  in  vain.     And  now  it  is  heard.     Deliverance  comes 


discourse  of  "  Christ  and  his  salvation,"  that  this  utterance  of  Christ  on  the 
cross  is  merely  the  interjectional  cry  of  "  one  just  rediny  out  of  life'''  and  to 
be  understood  not  literally  but  as  the  hyperbole  of  anguish  ;  since  God  did 
not  forsake  him,  or  regard  him  as  suffering  to  satisfy  divine  justice. 

This  is  an  amazing  instance  of  reckless  dogmatism  on  the  part  of  one 
who  affects  such  a  horror  of  dogmatists !  And  it  illustrates  the  straits  to 
which  absurd  theortes  of  theology,  reared  outside  the  Scriptures  are 
reduced,  when  brought  to  be  forced  in  upon  the  Scriptures  to  secure  for 
them  the  character  of  Christian  doctrines.  Dr.  Bushnell  is,  manifestly 
oblivious  of  the  fact  that  Jesus,  in  this  cry,  is  quoting  the  opening  words 
of  that  wonderful  twenty-second  Psalm,  which  prophetically  narrates  of 
Messiah  how,  "  All  that  see  me  laugh  me  to  scorn  :  they  voa^  titeir  heails 
saying,  he  trusted  in  the  Lord  that  he  would  deliver  him  \  let  him  deliver 
him."  How  "the  assembly  of  the  wicked  enclosed  me ;  they  pierce/l  my 
hands  and  my  feet."  And  how  "  they  part  my  garments  amons;  them  and 
upon  my  vesture  cast  lots."  Does  Dr.  Bushnell  mean  that  real  auguish  in 
its  death  agonies  utters  itself  in  poetic  quotations?  or  tj^at  Jesus  was  only 
acting  tragically  in  his  death  ?  IIo,  indeed,  expressly  asserts  that  Jesus 
uttered  what  was  not  true,  in  crying  thus— a  mere  exaggeration.  And 
yet  Dr.  Bushnell  writes  a  volume  on  "  Vicarious  Sacrifice,'  pretending  to 
receive  the  doctrine. 

So  also  in  saying  that  he  was  "  reeling  out  of  lifj.''  Dr.  Bushnell  seems 
equally  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  Jesus  said,  "  I  have  power  to  lay  down 
my  life  and  to  take  it  up  again,"  and  that  the  Evangelists  declare  that  so 
fiir  from  "reeling  out  of  life"  with  those  words  on  his  lips,  Jesus  evidently 
became  calm  again;  thought  of  a  prophecy  not  yet  fulfilled — viz, "  In  ray 
thirst  they  gave  me  vinegar  to  drink,"  and  therefore  said,  "  I  thirst ; "' 
that  when  he  had  received  the  vinegar  he  bowed  his  head  saying  "  It  is 
finished  ; "  and  then,  so  far  from  being  exhausted,  he  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  uttering  the  prayer  of  calm,  joyous  faith,  "Father  into  thy  hands  I 
commit  my  spirit ;  "  and  thereupon  "  dismissed  his  spirit." 

Surely  the  man  who  can  so  recklessly  set  aside  the  plain  statements  of 
Scripture,  is  not  to  be  trusted  as  a  guide  to  report  for  us  the  statements  of 
the  Protestant  flithers  touching  the  atonement !  Dr.  Bushnell  has  a  right 
as  against  the  Christian  world  to  range  himself  with  Theodore  Parker  in 
theology.  But  he  has  no  right  to  pretend  to  teach  atonement,  and  uudcr 
"false  pretences"  lead  men  to  disbelieve  and  to  scoff  at  it. 


312  KEDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

to  the  mighty  soul.     The  light  of  peace  illumines  his  counten- 
ance !     And  Nature,  in  sympathy,  resumes  her  cheerfulness. 

But  before  passing  on,  with  this  climax  of  the  agony  on  the 
cross  fresh  before  us,  let  us  contemplate  the  significance  of 
this  darkness  and  this  despairing  cry.  Especially  would  I 
call  upon  all  who  pretend  to  accept  the  Evangelists  as  God- 
inspired,  and  yet  deny  that  this  suffering  is  in  expiation  of 
divine  justice,  to  explain  to  us  these  amazing  phenomena. 
For,  be  it  remembered,  these  are  not  puzzles  of  the  sort  that 
trouble  them  concerning  the  doctrine  of  atonement.  They 
lie  not  back  in  the  sphere  of  the  Infinite  among  the  counsels 
of  eternity,  but  in  the  outer  sphere  of  the  visible  universe, 
and,  therefore,  are  susceptible  of  explanation  on  some  con- 
ceivable theory. 

Explain  to  us,  then,  on  any  theory  that  denies  the  great 
princij^le  that  "  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and 
bruised  for  our  iniquities,  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  being 
laid  upon  him :  "  that  "  he  bore  our  sins  on  his  own  body  on 
the  tree  :  "  that  ''  we  are  justified  by  his  blood :  "  and  that 
"  by  the  righteousness  of  cne  the  free  gift  comes  upon  all  men 
to  justification  of  life:" — Explain  these  amazing  prodigies  of 
nature  darkening  over  him  without,  and  the  hidings  of  God's 
face  darkening  his  soul  within  ! 

For,  according  to  all  that  we  know  of  the  laws  of  human 
nature, — dying  only  as  a  martyr  for  truth,  or  even  tragically 
to  exhibit  suffering  in  order  to  awaken  and  call  forth  the 
sympathy  of  a  "  new  life,"  and  lead  it,  in  sentimental 
harmony  with  God,  to  suffer  at  the  presence  of  sin  in  the 
universe, — Jesus  should  have,  at  least,  died  calmly  and  even 
joyfully.  Heretofore  he  has  manifested  in  all  things  unmur- 
muring submission  to  the  will  of  God  ;  and,  seeing  that 
Providence  has  ordered  this  time  and  manner  of  his  death, 
why  should  a  good  man  fear  it,  and  agonize  in  spirit  under 
the  infliction  of  it  ?  Even  Socrates  died  without  terror  and 
mental  suffering. 


HIS  DEATH  EXPIATORY  OR  FACTS  INEXPLICABLE.  313 

Still  more  than  this,  Jesus  had  none  of  those  oppressive 
doubts  that  must  trouble  even  a  Socrates,  assured  of  the 
justice  of  his  cause — those  doubts  of  having  purity  of  character 
sufficient  to  bear  the  scrutiny  of  the  immortal,  as  of  the  mortal 
judgment  seat.  Not  unfrequently  these  doubts,  at  the  ap- 
proach of  death,  project  their  dark  shadows  into  the  chambers 
of  the  soul  and  bring  out  the  writing  hitherto  unnoticed  which 
memory  has  traced  on  its  walls,  recording  many  a  sin.  For 
Jesus  had  "no  sin  upon  him,  neither  was  guilt  found  in  his 
mouth."  Neither  could  Jesus  have  been  overwhelmed  with 
the  uncertainty  about  immortality,  which  troubled  even 
Socrates,  that  he  should  despond  so  in  his  death  and  cry 
"My  God!  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  For  nothing 
could  be  surer  or  more  real  than  his  conviction  of  an  imme- 
diate transfer  of  him  the  homeless  one  to  the  mansions  of  his 
Father's  house. 

Surely,  it  will  not  be  pretended  that  the  mere  physical 
agony  caused  his  spirit  to  break  down,  and  despondency  to 
overwhelm  his  soul,  while  we  see  the  two  men  on  either  side 
of  him  enduring  the  same  physical  agony — one,  with  proud, 
defiant  scorn,  cursing  and  joining  in  the  jeers  of  the  rabble  ; 
the  other  with  holy  peace  of  mind  joraying  "  Lord  remember 
me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom." 

We  find  no  solution  of  this  agony  and  despondency  there- 
fore either  in  the  moral,  the  intellectual,  or  the  physical 
nature  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  And  the  question  still  recurs, 
why  should  Jesus  the  leader  and  model  of  so  many  thou- 
sands of  martyrs,  and  saints  of  high  attainments  in  the  new 
life,  be,  in  his  death,  so  different  from  them  all  ?  Why  should 
David,  with  death  staring  him  in  the  face,  sing  "  the  Lord  is 
my  strength,  I  will  not  fear  what  man  can  do,"  and  yet  Jesus 
wail  in  Gethsemane — "  0  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible  let  tliis 
cup  pass!"  Why  should  Shadrach  and  his  friends  walk 
cheerfully  amid  the  flames  of  the  fiery  furnace,  with  "  a  fourth 


314  REDEMPTION"  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

form  like  unto  the  Son  of  God  "  walking  with  them,  and  yet 
the  Son  of  God  himself  in  this  fiery  furnace  of  affliction  have 
"his  visage  so  marred  above  any  man's?"  Why  should 
Stephen,  with  the  crushed  bones  grinding  through  the  quiver- 
ing muscles  and  nerves  of  his  body,  under  the  barbarous 
stone-blows,  be  able  to  cry,  with  the  delight  of  a  child, 
"  Behold  I  see  the  heavens  opened  and  Jesus  standing  on  the 
right  hand  of  God,"  and  gently  breath  the  petitions,  "  Lord, 
lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge," — "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit " — -while  Jesus  himself  moans  in  agony  at  the  prospect, 
and  wails  the  hidings  of  God's  face  in  the  crisis?  Why 
should  Paul  exultingly  say,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  olFered, 
and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand  :  I  have  finished  my 
course,  henceforth  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  glory  " — while' 
Jesus  in  loneliness  of  agony  complains  "What,  could  ye  not 
watch  with  me  one  hour?"  and,  in  view  of  the  conflict  with 
death,  "  Sweat  great  drops  of  blood,"  and  now  in  the  hour 
of  dissolution  cry,  "  My  God!  My  God!  why  hast  thou  for- 
saken me?" 

Brethren,  there  is  no  explanation  of  all  this,  short  of  a 
practical  denial  of  the  whole  story,  as  anything  more  than 
legend,  save  in  the  explanation  which  the  scripture  gives  of  it, 
and  which  it  is,  indeed,  the  purpose  of  Old  and  New  Testament 
alike  to  give  us.  This  cross  is  the  great  altar  which  all  the 
altars  from  Adam  to  Ezra  typified.  This  victim  is  the  Lamb 
of  which  every  victim  offered,  under  every  revealed  worship 
was  a  prophecy ;  and  of  which,  indeed,  every  victim  that 
smoked,  through  all  the  ages  on  the  altars  of  heathenism  was 
an  unconscious  prophecy.  This  transaction,  in  the  outer 
sphere  of  the  natural,  is  but  the  infinite  truth  presenting  its 
finite  side  to  our  comprehension,  that  God's  justice  must  be 
magnified  in  the  infliction  of  the  sentence  "Thou  shalt  die'^ 
for  sin,  while  God's  mercy  provides  and  accepts  the  substi- 
tutes in  the  sinner's  stead.     In  this  act  the  instinctive  con- 


HIS  DEATU  EXPIATORY  OK  FACTS  INEXPLICABLE.  315- 

sciousness  of  universal  humanity — save  as  rationalistic  theo- 
rizing freezes  out  the  soul  instincts  of  humanity — receives  the 
satisfaction  of  its  longings  for  an  expiation  for  sin,  that  may 
at  once  meet  its  ethical  sense  of  right  and  its  hope  of  tlie 
divine  favour.  To  this  act  that  we  are  contemplating  as  the 
grand  centre,  all  the  revelations  and  -worships  and  mighty 
wonders  of  all  prenous  prophetic  teachings  looked  forward  ; 
and  all  the  revelations  and  worship  and  mighty  wonders  of 
the  succeeding  apostolic  teachings  look  backward.  Nor  can 
any  one,  with  intelligence  enough  to  discern  between  mere 
critical  jugglery  and  honest  common  sense,  and  between  solid, 
manly  logic  and  "  glittering  generalities,"  read  the  Titanic 
demonstrations  of  Paul  in  Romans,  Galatians,  and  Hebrews, 
without  perceiving  that  to  tamper  with  this  simple  story  of 
''  Christ  crucified  "  in  its  plainest  common  sense  meaning, 
is,  just  in  the  same  degree,  to  filch  away  the  very  heart  and 
substance  of  the  scriptures,  and  leave  them  a  hollow  sham,  or 
miserable  wreck  of  old  wives'  fables  ! 

But  if  we  accept  fully  Paul's  great  idea  that  God  is  "  setting 
him  forth,  a  propitiation^  through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  declare 
his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past, 
through  the  forbearance  of  God,"  then  we  have  the  solution 
of  these  mysteries.  We  can  see  why,  at  this  amazing  scene, 
Nature  should  veil  her  face  in  teiTor,  and,  at  its  close,  ri^e 
reverently  from  her  seat,  dropping  her  sceptre,  to  do  obeisance 
to  her  departing  Lord.  We  can  see  why  still  a  deeper  dark- 
ness than  Nature's  veils  the  light  of  God's  countenance  from 
ihe  sufferer;  why  "he  is  stricken  and  smitten  of  God  and 
:  ifiicted."  It  is  not,  as  we  might  have  dark  suspicions  it  is, 
because  he  is  paying  the  penalty  of  his  own  sin — but  because 
"he  is  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and  bruised  for  our 
iniquities."  He  is  "  bearing  the  sins  of  7?mr/2/,"  for,  in  him 
are  represented  now  all  the  sins  of  all  the  myriads  which, 
shall  constitute  the  body  of  the  redeemed  that  arc  to  sing 
"  he  hath  washed  us  from  cur  sins  in  his  own  blood." 


31G  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

We  return  for  a  moment  to  the  closing  scene.  The  agony 
of  the  desertion  is  over,  and  the  hght  returned.  It  is  now 
three  o'clock,  the  hour  at  which  every  day,  for  two  thousand 
years,  the  sacrifice,  typical  of  this,  has  heen  celebrated.  As 
at  twelve  o'clock  he  had  arranged  his  personal  human  affairs, 
preparatory  to  his  departure,  giving  Mary  his  mother  in  charge 
to  John ;  so  now  he  seems  absorbed  Avith  the  thought  of  his 
-official  cares,  and  to  inquire  if  all  things  written  in  Moses  and 
in  the  Prophets  and  in  the  Psalms  concerning  his  death  have 
been  fulfilled.  There  is  yet  one  prophecy — "  In  my  thirst — 
they  gave  me  vinegar  to  drink."  He  cries  "'  I  thirst ;" — and 
wonderfully  is  the  prophecy  fulfilled.  There  was  no  vinegar 
.near  to  suggest  it,  but  under  a  momentary  impulse  of  com- 
passion, "  one  of  them  rayi  and  took  a  sjjonge  and  filled  it 
■witli  vinegar^  and  put  it  upon  a  reed  and  gave  him  to  drink." 
Again  like  the  dice-throwing  soldiers,  the  enemy  is  micon- 
-sciously  registering  the  marks  of  Messiah.  Everything  now 
accomplished  he  announces,  "  It  is  finished  !"  and  then  calmly 
but  with  loud  voice  saying,  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commit  my 
spirit" — he  departed  amid  the  groans  of  agonized  nature  that 
.rent  the  rocks ;  opened  the  sepulchres  ;  and — to  mark  it  as 
no  ordinary  earthquake — rent  the  hanging  vail  of  the  temple  ! 

The  frightened  mob  rushes  away  frantically,  wringing  their 
hands  as  they  press  into  the  city.  The  Roman  soldiers,  how- 
ever alarmed,  must  stand  to  their  post.  Their  captain  can 
•  only  exclaim  in  mingled  terror  and  astonishment — "sure 
enough  this  must  have  been  the  Son  of  God  !"  The  women 
who  loved  and  revered  Jesus  still  stood  afar  off  in  amazement : 
they  have  no  terrors  of  conscience  to  drive  them  off;  an(^ 
they  are  held  fascinated  to  the  spot. 

As  the  evening  shadows  lengthen,  behold,  there  comes  for 
to  the  deserted  hillock  a  squad  of  rough  soldiers  to  finish  tne 
death  work,  and  take  the  bodies  away,  out  of  regard  for  the 
.tender  scruples  of  the  holy  Pharisees  about  allowing  the  bodies 


THE    PROPHETIC  CHOIR   AROUND   THE   CROSS.     317 

to  hang  beyond  sundown  on  the  gibbet.  They  roughly  break 
their  bones  and  thereby  hasten  the  death  of  the  two  thieves, 
who  might  otherwise  have  hngered  a  day  or  two.  To  their 
surprise  the  victim  on  the  central  cross  seems  already  dead. 
But  the  Roman  soldier  under  orders  must  act  very  surely. 
So  to  make  sure,  one  thrusts  his  rough  iron  spear  into  the 
victim's  side  to  pierce  his  heart,  and  there  comes  forth  blood 
and  water.  It  puts  beyond  all  chance  of  dispute  hereafter 
that  Jesus  died  ;  and  rose  from  the  dead  and  not  merely  from 
a  swoon ! 

But  this  singular  incident — one  provided  for  in  neither 
Roman  nor  Jewish  executions — recalls  to  us  the  strange  pro- 
phecy, "  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced  I" 
"  and  the  house  of  David  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem 
shall  mourn."  And  our  thoughts  started  in  the  direction  of 
the  thoughts  of  the  dying  Jesus,  to  know  whether  "  all  things 
are  now  accomplished  and  the  scripture  fulfilled,"  there  seems 
to  gather  around  the  deserted  Calvary  in  the  twihght  a  pro- 
phet chorus  singing  in  the  ear  of  faith  his  death,  as  gathered 
the  angels  to  sing  his  birth. 

Zachariah  takes  up  his  plaintive  elegy.  "  Look  how  they 
have  pierced  him,  and  mourn.  Awaked  thou  hast,  0  sword, 
against  the  shepherd,  and  the  sheep  are  scattered.  They 
weighed  his  price,  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  cast  the  thirty 
pieces  of  silver  to  the  potter  in  the  House  of  the  Lord  I" 
Micah  takes  up  the  strain, — "They  have  smitten  the  Judge 
of  Lsrael  with  a  rod  on  the  cheek."  Daniel,  as  beating  time  to 
the  music  on  his  great  prophetic  drum — "  Seventy  weeks  are 
accomplished" — the  exact  sevent;^-  times  seven  years — 
and,  behold,  Messiah  is  cut  off,  not  for  himself,  but  to 
Msh  transgression,  make  an  end  of  sin  ;  to  make  reconciliation 
iOY  iniquity  and  bring  in  an  everlasting  righteousness." 
Isaiah's  voice,  many-toned  as  the  organ,  now  wails,  '•  He  is 
oppressed  and  afflicted,  yet  opened  not  his  mouth.     0,  thou 


L8    REDEMPTION    AS    PREACHED    FROxAI    THE    CROSS. 

despised  and  rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief  I  Yet  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him.  Ho  shall 
sec  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  shall  be  satisfied  ;  because 
he  hath  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death,  and  is  numbered  -wrth 
the  transgressors ;  and  bears  the  sin  of  many,  and  makes 
intercession  for  the  transgressors."  David,  as  if  new  depths 
of  penitential  sorrow  arc  awakened  in  his  soul — re-echoes  the 
wail  "  My  Grod  !  Mj  God  ;  why  hast  thou  forsal^en  me  ! 
They  have  pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet."  Old  Elijah, 
with  spirit  softened,  comes  to  "  speak  of  his  decease  now 
accomplished  at  Jerusalem."  And  Moses  with  him  declares 
— "  Behold  the  prophet  like  unto  me" — Behold  the  true  blood 
sprinkled  at  last  under  the  covenant  promising  "  Wli^n  I 
see  the  blood  I  will  pass  over  1"  Jacob — "  The  sceptre  hath 
departed  from  Judah,  for  Shiloh  hath  come.  Behold  him 
whom  I  saw  at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  now  descended  to  its 
foot  on  his  mission  of  grace."  Abraham,  rejoicuig  to  see  this 
day,  cries,  "  God  hath  provided  the  lamb,  on  the  very  mount 
Moriah — The  Isaac  is  laid  upon  the  altar,  but  no  angel  stays 
the  father's  hand."  Adam  with  wonder  declares  the  heel  of 
ihe  woman's  seed  is  bruised — and  terrible  is  the  bruising  ;  but 
thereby  hath  he  crashed  the  serpent's  head.  Beautiful  Eve 
mingles  with  the  moans  of  ^lary  his  mother,  her  joyous  mater- 
nal song— now  sure  enough,  "  I  have  gotten  the  man,  I  have 
gotten  the  man — the  Jehovah  !" 

Yes!  Not  a  line,  not  a  syllable  of  all  that  God  hath 
spoken,  at  all  the  "  sundry  times"  and  in  all  the  "  divers 
manners"  hath  failed  in  this  wondrous  scene  of  the  lifting  up 
and  the  piercing  on  Calvary. 

Brethren,  I  dare  not  even  enter  upon  the  great  practical 
lessons  here,  save  only  to  suggest  the  blessed  lesson  to  you, 
from  the  manner  in  which  this  great  central  fact  of  Christ's 
death  is  here  presented,  surrounded  by  these  relative  human 
objects,  and  the  play  of  these  human  passions  answering  back 


THE  CROSS  TRE ACHED  COSPEL  EULL  OF  COMFORT.    *>19 

to  the  amazing  voice  of  God  that  speaks  in  this  death.  It  is 
the  story  of  a  "  Jesns,the  same  yesterday  to-day  and  forever;" 
and  of  a  human  nature  just  the  same  also  to-day  as  yesterday. 
As  you  look  on  him  pierced,  and  mourn  that  your  sins  pierced 
him  thus — Remember  you  look  to  him  who  coidd  pray  with 
it  all — "  Father  forgive  them."  If  there  is  one  of  you  who  feels 
himself  a  poor,  cowardly,  Lord-denying  Peter,  and  weeps 
bitterly  as  he  seems  to  look  upon  you  ;  remember  his  gracious 
message — "  Go  tell  Peter  to  meet  me  in  Galilee  " — the  kind 
test  "  Lovest  thou  me  ?" — and  the  grace  that  made  Peter  so 
lion-hearted  on  the  great  Pentecostal  day  to  say — not  ^'  woman 
I  know  him  not " — but  to  charge  in  the  teeth  of  the  excited 
ten  thousand,  fierce  and  blood-tliirsty  in  the  streets  of  Jerusa- 
lem— "■  Him  being  delivered — ye  have  taken  and  with  wicked 
hands  have  crucified  and  slain."  Nay  if  there  is  here  a  poor 
Judas  whom  conscience  charges  with  having  betrayed  and 
sold  the  master,  only  come  weeping  like  Peter — go  not  away 
in  despair  to  death — ^but  come  look  upon  him.  There  is  no 
such  difference  between  denying  and  betraying,  that  Peter 
may  be  saved  and  Judas  not ! 

If  there  be  some  heavy-hearted  father  or  mother  or  brother 
or  sister  here,  bowed  down  with  sorrow  for  the  hardness  and 
impenitency  of  this  child  or  brother  or  sister,  who  hath  forgot- 
ten all  the  vows  of  infancy  and  the  teachings  of  childhood — 
Fear  not  that  your  humble  heart-troubles  are  too'  unimportant 
for  the  great  King.  You  have  a  High  Priest  who  can  sym- 
pathize with  you  ;  one  that,  even  amid  the  agonies  of  his  cross, 
forgot  not  these  tender  ties  of  nature,  but  said  "  behold  thy 
mother  !"  Come  boldly  with  the  burden  and  cry  in  faith — 
"  Jesus  Saviour  behold  my  child — my  brother — my  sister" — 
and  your  cry  shall  not  be  in  vain. 

If  there  is  one  among  you  procrastinating  the  offer  of  grace 
— and  secure  in  the  hope  that  when  death  comes  he  will  accept 
it — remember  him  who  wasted  his  dying  breath  in  jeers  and 


320  REDEMPTION  AS  PREACHED  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

curses  at  Jesus.  But  on  the  other  hand,  if  there  be  some 
aged  sinner  who  feels  it  is  now  too  late,  then  be  encouraged 
with  him  on  the  cross,  to  cry  "  Lord,  remember  me !"  and 
even  yet  obtain  the  assurance  of  his  favour. 

He  was  thus  lifted  up  to  "  draiv  all  men  unto  him,"  with- 
out respect  to  birth,  or  age,  or  moral  character.  The  very 
gamblers  who  played  for  his  robe  ;  the  very  mob  that  shouted 
"  he  saved  others,  himself  he  cannot  save  " — the  very  soldiers 
that  pierced  his  hands  and  feet,  and  he  that  pierced  his  side, 
so  far  from  being  given  over,  were  selected  to  prove  how  he  is 
"  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost."  For  remember  his  last  com- 
mand runs  "  Go  preach  my  gospel— beginning  at  Jerusalem." 


SECTION  V. 


REDEMPTION  AS   PREACHED  BY   APOSTLES  UNDER  THE 
DISPENSATION  OF   THE   SPIRIT. 


DISCOURSE  XV. 

THE  APOSTOLIC   STATEMENT    OF  THE    TERMS   OP    SALVATION. 

Acts  xvi.  29-3L — Then  he  called  for  a  light ;  and  sprang  in,  and  came 
trembling,  and  fell  down  before  Paul  and  Silas,  and  said,  Sirs,  -what  must 
I  do  to  be  saved  ?  And  thev  said,  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved. 

To  the  student  perplexed  by  some  curious  anomaly  in  nature, 
or  principle  of  philosophy ;  to  the  physician  perplexed  with 
some  case  for  which  his  reading  furnishes  no  parallel  nor 
suggestion  of  a  remedy  ;  to  the  lawyer  weary  with  looking  for 
some  precedent  to  settle  the  principle  of  the  case  in  hand ; 
how  gladly  comes  the  information  that  such  a  problem,  such 
an  instance,  or  such  a  case,  has  come  before  some  great 
master  of  human  knowledge,  in  these  departments  severally, 
and  has  been  clearly  and  indisputably  settled.  Why  should 
it  be  less  a  matter  of  gladness  to  you,  my  brethren,  so  deeply 
concerned  in  this  question  of  salvation,  and  often  so  uncertain 
about  it,  under  the  various  theories  of  men  concerning  it,  to 
be  told  that  the  great  question  has  been  authoritatively  settled 
and  in  a  form  precisely  to  meet  your  case,  whatever  it  may 
be  ?  That  there  is  a  decision  not  merely  of  the  abstract 
principle,  in  thesi,  as  the  logicians  would  say,  but  on  a  case 
actually  occurring.    Not  a  decision  either,  under  some  of  the 

V 


322      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION   HOW   TO   BE    SAVED. 

ancient  covenants  with  an  incomplete  development  of  the 
gospel  salvation  ;  but  twenty  years  after  the  last  of  the  old 
covenants  had  given  place  to  the  new  covenant  in  Christ's 
blood  ;  twenty  years  after  the  completion  of  the  scheme  bv 
the  death,  resurrection  and  ascension  of  Jesus  ;  and  given  by 
a  man  to  whom,  after  his  ascension,  Jesus  had  appeared  per- 
sonally for  the  special  purpose  of  commissioning  him  to  speak 
for  him,  in  declaring  the  terms  on  Avhich  he  will  be  the  Saviour 
of  men.  Not  a  decision,  either,  founded  upon  the  case  of 
some  one  peculiarly  related  to  the  scheme  of  salvation,  as  one 
of  the  chosen  people,  under  special  covenant,  but  upon  the 
case  of  one  wholly  outside  the  covenants — a  Gentile  like  you 
— and  as  worldly-minded  and  unbelieving  as  hitherto  any  of 
you  have  been. 

You  are  perhaps  ready  to  ask  however — ''  Is  not  this  a 
peculiar  case,  and  out  of  analogy  with  mine,  seeing  that  here 
was  a  miracle  wrought  in  shaking  open  the  prison  doors  and 
shaking  off  the  fetters — whereas  now  there  are  no  such 
miracles  to  convert  men."  I  answer  no  :  the  miracle  here  is 
but  an  illustrative  incident  in  the  case,  and  does  not  at  all 
remove  it  out  of  the  sphere  of  ordinary  experience  so  far 
as  relates  to  saving  the  soul.  For  you  will  perceive  that  the 
miracle,  so  far  from  converting  this  man,  left  him  frightened 
indeed,  but  as  worldly-minded  and  full  of  concern  about  his 
official  responsibility  as  ever ;  yea  so  utterly  atheistic  as  to 
be  ready  to  commit  suicide.  It  was  after  the  miracle  was 
all  over,  and,  as  its  result,  had  driven  him  to  the  verge  oi 
suicide,  that  the  calm,  kind  words  of  the  Apostle  brought 
him  to  himself.  And  now  as  the  result  of  these  kind  words, 
taken  in  connection  with  all  he  had  heard  before,  he  was 
convinced,  convicted  of  sin,  and,  in  agony  of  conscience  that 
made  him  tremble  and  prostrate  himself,  he  asks,  "  what 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?" 

It  is  a  very  common  error  that  the  miracles  of  the  New  Tes- 


THE  CASE  ACTUAL  AND  JUST  IX  POINT  TO  OURS.    323        ^ 

tanient  history  were   the  great  means  of  the  conviction  and 
conversion  of  men  under  the  New  Testament  ministry.     And       \ 
this  error  involved  in  them  is  that  which  at  once  exposes  the 
miposture  in  all  these  legendary  miracles  of  modern  saints 
and  prophets  wrought  to  convert  heretics  and  infidels.     A 
miracle  never   converted  anybody :   never  was  intended  to 
convert  anybody:    never  could  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
convert  anybody.     For  a  miracle,  that  is,   an  act   in  the 
sphere  of  the  natural  which  no  power  but  God's  can  do,  is       I 
simply  the  seal  which  God  puts  to  the  commission  of  those 
whom  he  sends  to  speak  in  his  name,  in  order  to  verify  the       I 
commission  and  to  distinguish  them  from  impostors  and  false       i 
prophets.     It  is  analagous  to  the  seal  which  is  put  upon  the 
commissions  and  other  public  papers  issued  from  the  clerk's 
office,  or  the  secretary  of  state's  office  ;  and  bears  the  same 
relation  to  the  gospel  preached  by  these  commissioned  men, 
that  the  seal  of  the  office  on  the  paper,  bears  to  the  commis-       I 
sion  and  instruction  contained  in  it.     Nicodemus  stated  the       | 
logic  of  the  matter  precisely — "  Rabbi,  we  know  that  thou  art       | 
a  teacher  come  from  God,  for  no  man  can  do  these  miracles       | 
which  thou  doest  excej^t  God  he  with  Mm.''''    Hence,  when       I 
men  claim  to  have  wrought  a  miracle,  we  naturally  ask — what 
revelation  from  heaven  does  this  miracle  attest  the  commis- 
sion to  deliver  ?     And  so,  when  men  claim  to  speak  a  revc-       , 
lation  from  heaven,  we  naturally  ask — "  where  is  the  miracle 
that  attests  your  authority  to  speak  from  heaven  ?    If  the 
claim  is  to  work  miracles  without  any  message  from  God  to 
us,  we  know  at  once  that  it  is  an  attempt  to  counterfeit  the 
seal  of  the  office  in  heaven.     If  a  claim  to  make  revelations 
without  the  miracles  to  attest  it,  we  know  at  once  it  is  tlio 
trick  of  an  impostor  and  false  prophet.      Hence  you   find 
Jesus  ever  appealing  to  his  mighty  works  as  the  attestation 
of  his  authority  to  speak  God's  words.     And  yet  to  such  as 
curiously  demand  simply  to  have  the  miracle — *'  the    sign  " 


324      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION   HOW   TO    BE   SAVED. 

—without  caring  to  hear  the  message  of  God,  he  says  "  an 
evil  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  a  sign,  but  there  shall 
no  sign  be  given." 

In  order  to  see  that  a  miracle,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  is 
not  a  converting  power,  just  imagine  that  it  were  our  office, 
as  ministers,  on  the  Sabbath  day  to  work  miracles  before  you 
instead  of  preaching  the  gospel.  The  first  exhibition  of  our 
power — say  in  raising  some  dead  man — would  indeed  excite 
and  frighten  you — drive  some  of  you,  perhaps,  to  suicide,  as 
this  jailer.  Others  would  go  away  talking  of  the  wonder  and 
filling  the  world  with  the  story  :  but  none  of  you  thinking  of 
your  sins  and  the  need  of  salvation  !  The  next  Sabbath  the 
same  wonder  repeated  would  not  alarm  and  excite  so  much  ; 
the  following  Sabbaths  less  and  less  ;  till  at  length,  the  act 
of  God's  power  in  raising  the  dead  would  affect  you  just  as 
little  as  those  daily  acts  of  God's  power  which  keep  the  sun 
punctual  to  the  moment  every  morning,  and  the  moon  and 
stars  in  their  places. 

This  case  therefore  is,  notwithstanding  the  miraculous  inci- 
dents that  precede,  precisely  the  case  of  any  one  of  you,  who, 
in  the  ordinary  way,  have  been  led  to  accept  the  proposition 
that  God  is  and  that  Christianity  is  true  ;  and  moved  by 
some  call  of  the  gospel  entreating  you,  "  Do  thyself  no 
harm  1"  have  been  led  earnestly  to  ask  "  what  shall  I  do  ?" 
And,  whether  it  be  the  case  of  a  worldly  mind,  that  never 
thought  of  it  before,  or  of  some  one  long  familiar  with  the 
subject,  and  often  aroused  before, — or  of  some  real  Christian 
in  darkness  and  doubt  about  his  personal  acceptance  with  God 
— ^here  is  your  case  made  and  decided,  by  one  expressly 
authorized  to  decide  it.  And  if  you  can  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  the  terms  of  this  short  answer,  '*  Believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  then  you  know  all  that  is  essential  to  be 
known  in  order  to  be  saved. 

For  have  you  ever  noticed  the  singular  tendency  of  the 


THE  OBJECT  OF  FAITH — THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.    325 

mind  of  this  great  inspired  logician  Paul,  to  pack  the  ^v]lolo 
sum  and  substance  of  the  gospel,  whether  as  a  theology  or  as 
a  practical  experimental  truth,  into  one  brief  sentence  or  even 
clause  of  a  sentence  ?  As  the  mathematician  glories  in  his 
science,  which  can  often  express  in  one  brief  formula,  with  a 
few  signs,  great  propositions  and  facts  which  it  would  require 
pages  to  develop  and  utter  in  ordinary  language,  so  Paul 
seems  to  delight  in  generalizations  that  express  the  whole 
gospel  in  one  simple  formula.  As  a  theology,  he  expresses  it 
all  in  two  words,  "  "We  preach  Christ  crucified."  As  an  epic 
history,  in  the  sentence,  "  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners.*'  So  here  as  an  experimental  fact — "Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ," — ^this  is  the  whole  of  it.  So  that 
if  you  can  comprehend  two  simple  ideas  into  which  analysis 
resolves  the  sentence,  and  accept  them,  you  may  be  saved. 
These  propositions  are — First, — the  object  of  belief — "  The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Second, — the  subjective  act  of  the  soul 
involved  in  the  word  "  Beheve."  Assuming  that  you  are  in 
earnest  enough,  in  asking  the  question,  "  What  must  I  do  to 
be  saved  ?"  to  look  at  these  two  propositions  from  the  prac- 
tical and  experimental  standpoint,  I  propose  to  assist  you  in 
getting  at  their  definite  meaning  by  developing  their  signifi- 
cance in  the  plainest  words,  and  by  the  simplest  analogies  and 
illustrations  I  can  find ;  and  reasoning,  not  theoretically,  but 
simply  upon  the  plainest  principles  of  common  -sense  and 
human  nature. 

As  to  the  proposition,  the  object  of  the  belief— "The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  " — I  may  assume  that  all  of  you  have  already 
some  tolerably  distinct  conceptions  of  its  meaning.  The 
instructions  of  the  fireside,  of  the  Sabbath-school,  the  public 
worship,  and  even  the  ordinary  social  conversation  under 
which  you  have  grown  up,  give  you  greatly  the  advantage  of 
the  jailer  in  that  respect ;  and  have  brought  you  naturally 
and  almost  unconsciously,  to  the  same  point,  to  which  the 


326       APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION"   HOW    TO   BE    SAVED. 

earthquake  brought  him,  namely,  the  conviction  that  this 
'•Lord  Jesus  Christ"'  whom  these  ministers  preach,  and 
Christians  talk  about,  is  a  divine  being.  You  have  also, 
perhaps,  comprehended  something  of  the  profound  truths  of 
theology  which  are  embodied  in  this  title — for  the  title  is  a 
theology.  You  understand  how  as  "  Christ,"  he  is  the 
anointed  and  commissioned  mediator  between  a  holy  God 
and  unholy  men.  How  as  ''  Jesus,"  so  named  at  his  birth 
when  he  became  the  Son  of  man  like  ourselves,  he  is  "  the 
Saviour"  of  his  people  from  their  sins.  How  as  "  Lord," 
he  is  Head  and  Ruler  not  only  of  all  things  in  heaven  and 
earth  generally,  but,  in  a  special  sense.  Lord  of  a  peculiar 
body  of  people  whom  he  redeems  out  of  the  lost  race  of  men. 
And  that,  in  fulfilment  of  all  these  titles,  he  came  to  earth, 
taking  our  human  nature  in  conjunction  with  his  divine 
nature  ;  lived  a  life  of  holy  obedience  to  a  law  of  which  ho 
was  not  the  subject  but  the  ordaining  authority  ;  died  the 
death  of  the  very  guiltiest  of  sinners,  as  an  atonement  for 
th©  sins  of  those  he  would  redeem  ;  rose  from  the  dead  and 
ascended  to  the  throne  in  heaven,  thereby  demonstrating  that 
he  was  indeed  the  "  Christ "  appointed  of  God  to  be  the 
mediator,  and  that  this  sacrifice  was  accepted  of  God  ;  and 
that  the  way  is  now  open  for  the  return  of  all  who  had 
rebelled  against  his  authority,  and  by  their  sins  had  forfeited 
all  claim  to  the  divine  favour.  And  that  this  willingness  of 
God  to  receive  sinners  w\as  further  demonstrated,  in  sending 
forth  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  whose  divine  power  the  sinners 
should  be  made  willing  and  enabled  to  return  to  God.  Sup- 
posing the  knowledge  of  these  facts  already  sufficient  to 
enable  you  to  comprehend  them  when  thus  summarily  stated, 
I  pass  on  to  the  second  of  these  propositions,  with  which  you 
probably  have  more  difficulty. 

The  inspired  direction  is  simply  "  Believe."  There  is  a  pre- 
liminary inquiry  here  which  usually  suggests  itself  to  worldly 


WHY    WE    ANSWER   BY    HOLDING   UP   CHRIST.     327 

men, — "  Wlij  believe  ?"  tlicy  say,  how  does  that  answer  the 
inquiry,  ''what  mnst  I  do  ?^^  When  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  instead  of  telling  me  to  do  anything,  say  "  believe  on 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;"  what  relation  has  this  idea  of  the 
*'  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  to  the  idea  involved  in  the  question  of 
something  to  be  done  to  secure  God's  favour  ?  If  you  would 
tell  me  what  duties  should  be  done — what  prayers — what 
reform  of  life — what  acts  of  holiness,  must  be  done,  I  could 
then  comprehend  it  as  an  answer  to  the  question  "  What 
must  I  do  ?"  But  instead  o(  sayuig  do  these  things,  which 
constitute  true  rehgion  acccording  to  the  teachings  of  the 
gospel,  you  say  nothing  of  doing,  but  only  "  believe," — 
"  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ !"  Now,  why  is  Christ 
held  up  to  the  thought  rather  than  Christian  duties  in  the  acts 
of  life  ? 

Without  going  into  the  depths  of  theology  for  an  explana- 
tion— as  I  have  promised  not  to  speak  theologically — we  may 
find  reason  enough  why  Christ  should  thus  be  held  up  to 
your  thought  in  the  depths  of  your  own  consciousness,  if 
you  arc  in  earnest  in  asking  "  What  must  I  do  ?"  For  any 
sort  of  analysis  and  observation  of  the  state  of  mind  which 
leads  you  to  ask  earnestly,  will  show  that  Christ  is  precisely 
the  object  to  meet  the  wants  of  that  state  of  mind. 

Thus,  in  the  first  place,  one  of  the  reasons  which  induce 
you  to  ask  for  instruction  in  the  way  of  salvation  is  the  trouble 
you  find,  in  your  attempts  to  approach  God  in  prayer  for  the 
pardon  of  the  sins  of  which  you  are  conscious,  of  conceiving 
of  the  Being  to  whom  you  speak,  definitely  enough  to  feel 
that  your  communion  with  him  is  a  reality,  and  that  he  hears 
you  and  answers.  You  labour,  as  preliminary  to  any  utter- 
ance, to  have  some  notion  of  him  to  whom  you  speak.  And 
as  you  endeavour  to  conceive  of  an  Infinite  Spirit,  filling 
immensity  with  his  presence,  huw  everything  seems  to  become 
confused  and  dizzy,  till  at  last  it  seems  to  you  as  if  you  are 


328      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION   HOW   TO   BE    SAVED. 

speaking  to  mere  vacuity ;  and  naturally  enough  your  thoughts 
and  desires  have  no  outflow,  for  all  seem  to  come  back  upon 
you.  Your  thought  refuses  to  convey  the  message  which  the 
heart  would  send.  In  this  trouble,  finding  you  cannot  pray, 
save  in  some  mere  form  that  you  feel  is  not  true  prayer,  you 
come  to  us,  saying  ^'  What  must  I  do  ?  I  cannot  pray."  We 
answer,  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  And  why? 
Because,  in  Jesus  Christ  God  is  presented  to  you  in  a  form  that 
your  thought  can  conceive  of,  and  that  your  heart's  aJBfections 
can  go  forth  unto,  though  you  see  him  not ;  just  as  they  can 
go  forth  to  the  friend,  father,  or  mother  far  off  out  of  sight ; 
as  you  sit  down  and  write  your  thoughts  to  them,  until  it 
seems  almost  like  speaking  to  them  face  to  face.  As  Tayler 
Lewis  somewhere  says  of  the  bible,  that  it  is  the  Infinite  Mind 
which  comprehends  all  the  finities,  turning  a  finite  side  to 
finite  men,  that  they  may  comprehend  and  commune  with  its 
thought ;  so  we  may  say  of  "  Jesus  Christ,"  ''  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh,"  that  he  is  the  infinite  God  presenting  his  finite 
form  to  us  that  we  may  conceive  of  and  commune  with  him. 
"  The  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever,"  that  simple 
gospel  story  sets  him  before  you  so  clearly  and  definitely, 
that,  as  you  would  speak  to  him  of  your  sins  and  soul-troubles, 
you  may  be  assured  it  is  the  same  compassionate  son  of  man, 
a  "  High  Priest  that  can  sympathize  with  our  infirmities  ;" 
and  you  can  talk  to  him  as  man  talks  to  his  fellow.  See  you 
not  then  how  appropriately  we  say  to  you,  "  Believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ "  when  in  that  state  of  trouble  about  pray- 
ing, you  come  to  us  asking,  "  What  must  I  do  ?" 

Unitarianism,  indeed,  charges  us  with  idolatry  in  praying 
to  God  as  clothed  thus  in  the  form  of  humanity.  But  how 
can  Unitarianism  provide  for  this  conscious  want  of  every 
earnest  soul  that,  burdened  with  a  sense  of  sin  and  helpless- 
ness, tries  to  pray,  save  by  treating  the  earnestness  and  heart 
feeling  as  fanaticism,  and  confining  rehgious  experience  to 


WHY   WE    ANSWER   BY   HOLDING   UP   CURIST.     329 

mere  cold  speculative  thought  of  God  ?     Suppose  we  grant 
that  a  few  of  the  more  etherial  spirits,  by  long  training,  can 
rise  to  the  heights  of  conceiving  of  God  as  a  pure  infinite 
spirit,  definitely  enough  to  speak  their  heart  utterances  to 
him  and  commune  with  him  ?     Yet  what  is  to  become  of  the 
vast  masses  of  unlettered,  untrained  men  ?     Of  the  poor  unin- 
tellectual  peasant  ?     Of  the  little  children  ?     Of  the  broken- 
hearted sufferers — in  no  frame  of  mind  for  subtle  reasoning 
and  laborious  effort  to  conceive  of  God  ?     All  these  need  just 
as  truly  as  Channing,  or  Ware,  or  Parker,  or  Emerson,  to 
have  a  God  to  whom,  in  their  troubles  and  darkness,  they  can 
go  and  pray.     Tell  them  of  the  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  they 
can  all  conceive  as  the  son  of  man,  the  man  of  sorrows,  the 
lover  of  the  poor  and  the  little  children,  and  they  can  all  pray 
just  as  really  as  the   profoundest   philosopher.     They  can 
readily  be  taught,  especially  under  the  leadings  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  that  their  thoughts  reach  his  thoughts  and  find  sympa- 
thy there.     It  is  as  our  dying  boy  unconsciously  and  artlessly 
illustrated  it.     After  reading  in  the  Sunday-school  book  the 
story  of  the  little  boy  in  sorrow  for  his  dying  mother,  who, 
having  heard  the  story  of  Jesus,  conceived  the  idea  of  writing 
a  letter  to  Jesus  and  leaving  it  in  a  stump  in  the  lonely  woods, 
where  Jesus  might  find  it ; — said  our  boy,  "  It  may  seem 
foolish  in  a  boy  like  me,  six  yeai*s  old,  to  feel  so,  but  I  could'nt 
help  wishing  like  the  little  boy,  that  I  might  write  a  letter  to 
Jesus  and  ask  him  to  help  the  doctor  to  make  me  well,  or  else 
to  take  me  out  of  this  dreadful  suffering."     We  said,  "  why, 
poor  boy,  we  have  a  shorter  way  than  that  of  asking  Jesus  for 
what  we  want ;"  and  were  about  to  explain  to  him  by  some 
simple  analogy,  but  his  thoughts  recurring  immediately   to 
what  he  had  seen,  with  so  much  wonder  and  childish  delight, 
at  the  telegraph  office — a  question  sent  to  one  of  the  family 
a  thousand  miles  off  and  answered  in  a  few  minutes — his  eye 
sparkled  through  the  tears  as  he  asked,  "  How?  could  you 


330       APOSTOLIC    DIRECTION    HOW    TO    BE    SAVED. 

do  it  by  telegrapli  ?"  Struck  with  the  analogy,  we  could 
but  reply  ''  Yes  !  that  is  more  like  it.  In  everybody's  heart 
the  earnest  wish  for  blessing  from  Jesus  strikes  a  chord  that 
reaches  to  the  heart  of  Jes«s,  and  he  answers  back  to  our 
hearts  in  the  same  way." 

If  the  illustration  seem  childish  and  simple,  it  may  only  the 
more  aptly  suggest  to  you,  who  have  felt  this  trouble,  in  the 
approach  to  God  in  prayer,  how  the  things  ''hidden  from 
the  wise  and  prudent  are  revealed  to  babes  !"  and  why  it  is 
that  we  meet  such  soul  trouble  as  ^^ours  with  simply  holding 
up  Jesus  Christ  to  your' thought. 

But  you  find  also  a  second  difficulty  that  leads  to  this 
inquiry.  That  is,  a  surprising  degree  of  darkness  and  igno- 
rance on  the  whole  subject,  as  experimentally  applying  to 
your  case,  however  clear  you  may  have  supposed  your  gene- 
ral theoretic  knowledge  of  the  gospel  to  be.  Like  Bunyan's 
pilgrim  in  the  Slough  of  Despond,  you  know  nothing  of  the 
way  of  escape  save  that  you  must  not  not  get  out  on  the  side 
next  the  City  of  Destruction  from  which  you  are  trying  ta 
flee.  Hence  pastors  are  so  often  surprised  that  those  whom 
they  had  trained  so  carefully  in  gospel  knowledge  should  seem 
in  such  utter  darkness,  when  the  self-appropriation  of  their 
knowledge  is  to  be  made.  This  consciousness  is,  indeed^ 
implied  in  the  question  "  What  must  I  do  ?"  We  answer 
again,  "  Beheve  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ" — why  ?  Because 
Christ  is  specially  revealed  as  the  Prophet  who  by  his  teach- 
ings and  spirit,  meets  that  very  difficulty.  Having  once 
obtained  the  conception  of  Jesus  before  alluded  to,  you  can  in 
no  way  so  readily  get  the  knowledge  you  want  as  by  prayer- 
ful study  of  his  own  teachings  of  the  way  of  salvation.  You 
will  now  find  with  what  wonderful  simplicity  he  teaches. 
How,  as  a  mother  teaching  the  little  ones  by  pictures  and 
comparisons,  so  he  by  constant  analogies  and  figures  from  the 
external  world — conveys  tho  idcas^of  this  work  in  the  sphere 


WHY   WE   ANSWER   BY   HOLDING   UP   CHRIST.     331 

of  the  internal  and  spiritual.  And  once  you  realize  that  the 
gospel  is  not  a  story  of  what  Jesus  once  said,  merely,  but  of 
what  he  is  noiu  saying  to  you,  and  desire  that,  by  his  Spirit, 
he  will  enable  you  to  understand  experimentally  his  sayings, 
you  will  wonder  that  you  should  have  been  in  darkness  so 
long  about  that  which  is  so  plain. 

A  third  difficulty  which  leads  you  to  make  this  inquiry, 
what  must  I  do  ? — is  the  greater  consciousness  of  sinfulness 
now  than  you  ever  felt  before.  Though  ready  enough,  here- 
tofore, to  acknowledge  yourself,  generally,  a  sinner,  you  had 
no  such  conception  of  your  guilt  and  unworthiness  before  God 
as  now.  Your  very  efforts  at  reform,  fixing  your  attention 
upon  your  sins,  it  seems  to  you  that,  with  all  your  efforts  to 
be  good,  you  are  every  day  getting  worse  and  worse.  It  is 
this  experience  that  leads  to  the  common  request,  "  Pray  for 
me,  I  am  such  a  sinner  I  cannot  pray."  And  this  enters 
largely  as  an  element  into  the  reason  for  asking — "  What, 
must  I  do  ?"  Again  we  answer — "*  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  And  why  ?  Because,  to  meet  this  very  difficulty, 
he  is  revealed  as  your  Priest,  making  atonement,  and  thereby 
taking  away  sin ;  and,  by  taking  it  away,  releasing  the  con- 
science of  its  burden  and  the  soul  of  its  terror  in  approaching 
God.  And  once  you  apprehend  clearly  as  a  great  reality, 
personal  to  you,  that  in  this  life  of  Jesus  he  obeyed  for  you,, 
and  that  in  his  sufferings  and  death,  you  were  represented, 
and  your  sins  atoned  for,  then  you  begin  to  feel  the  force  of 
the  Apostle's  saying — "  Being  justified  by  faith  we  have  peace 
with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  And  now  you 
can  approach  God  as  a  reconciled  father. 

There  is  still  a  fourth  element  of  trouble  in  your  experience 
which  leads  you  to  ask — "  What  must  I  do  ?"  You  discover 
now,  in  a  sense  never  realized  before,  your  helplessness  and. 
your  want  of  strength  and  self-command  to  keep  your  resolu- 
tions to  lead  a  holy  life.     You  find  with  Paul,   "  When  I 


332      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION    HOW    TO   BE    SAVED. 

Tvould  do  good  evil  is  present  with  me."  Before,  jou  have 
reUed  upon  jour  strength  of  character  and  your  abihty,  if  you 
only  once  determined  on  it,  to  lead  a  holy  life.  But  now  the 
habits  of  sin  are  so  strong  that  you  cannot  but  feel — "  What 
though  all  the  sins  of  the  past  were  pardoned,  and  I  assured 
•of  it  by  a  voice  from  heaven  !  still,  if  left  here  just  as  I  am  in 
a  world  full  of  temptations  to  sin,  before  another  day  passed 
I  would  be  again  covered  w^ith  sin,  and  guilty  before  God." 
Hence  you  are  afraid  to  trust  yourself,  when  urged,  in  obedi- 
ence to  Christ's  command,  to  confess  him  before  men.  You 
have  so  little  confidence  in  your  present  purposes  of  holiness 
that  you  fear  you  will  disgrace  such  a  profession,  and  there- 
.fore  hold  back.  And  in  your  dissatisfaction  and  despair  you 
ask,  "  What  must  I  do  ?"  Once  more  we  answer,  "  Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  And  why  ?  Because  he  is  held 
up  to  your  thoughts,  in  the  gospel,  as  not  only  your  prophet 
to  teach  and  your  priest  to  atone,  but  also  your  king  to  sub- 
due your  spiritual  enemies  and  to  rule  himself  in  your  heart. 
As  the  result  of  his  work  of  atonement  he  has  secured  for  you 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  create  anew,  to  give  sensibility  to  the 
conscience,  and  strength  to  the  spiritual  life.  His  gospel  is 
.not  only  a  teaching  of  God,  and  of  the  forgiving  love  of  God, 
l)ut  the  "  power  of  God  unto  salvation."  It  exhorts  you,  feeling 
your  weakness  and  assured  that  you  shall  find  grace  to  help 
you  in  time  of  need,  instead  of  giving  way  to  the  power  of 
sin,  to  feel  that  you  can  do  all  things,  Jesus  Christ  strength- 
ening you. 

You  may  now  begin  to  see  w^hy  we  hold  up  Jesus  Christ 
simply,  before  the  inquiring  soul  rather  than  direct  him  to  do 
this  and  do  that,  under  the  rules  of  a  Christian  life.  We  do 
not  mean  that  the  newness  of  life  of  holy  obedience  is  any  the 
less  important,  or  that  it  need  not  follow.  The  principle  of 
the  gospel  is  that  you  shall  serve  and  obey  not  by  rule,  nor 
ibr  reward,  nor  from  mere  fear ;  but  from  the  same  principle 


WHAT    IT   IS    TO   BELIEVE   ON    CHRIST.  OOO 

on  Avhich  you.  serve  and  obey  the  mother  who  has  won  your 
willing,  uncalculating  service  by  her  love  to  you.  Jesus 
Christ  is  wiihng  to  risk  the  ethics  and  the  obedience  of  his 
people,  after  they  thus  accept  him  as  the  remedy  for  their 
troubles,  on  their  sense  of  gratitude  and  love  for  him  who  loved 
them  and  gave  himself  for  them.  And,  on  tlie  other  hand,  you 
perceive  that  the  reason  why  we  hold  up  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
answer  to  "  What  must  I  do  ?"  is  not  from  any  pressure  of 
theological  dogma,  but  because  it  is  precisely  the  direction 
which  provides  the  remedy,  with  marvellous  fitness,  for  the 
conscious  wants  which  lead  to  the  question. 

If  now  you  can  understand  the  other  term  of  the  direction — 
"  Beheve  " — which  expresses  the  subjective  act  of  the  soul,  in 
thus  contemplating  the  object  Jesus  Christ, — then  you  have 
the  whole  of  it. 

But  here  again  you  feel  great  difficulty.  You  feel  conscious 
that  it  must  mean  something  more  than  simply  to  believe  intel- 
lectually that  Jesus  Christ  was  and  is  ;  as  you  believe  that 
Cgesar,  or  Paul  or  Luther  was  and  is.  What  is  then  this 
pecuUar  believing  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  is  unto 
salvation  ? 

Here,  again,  let  us  take  the  simplest,  common-sense  method 
for  ascertaining  the  significance  of  a  peculiar,  technical  term: 
that  we  are  in  doubt  about.  Your  method,  in  ordinary  cases, 
when  readin;^:  an  author  who  uses  a  term  the  meaninfj;  of 
which  you  do  not  know  and  have  no  means,  as  the  lexicon,  at 
hand  to  enable  you  to  determine  it,  is  to  note  carefully  the 
connection  in  which  the  word  occurs  ;  and,  as  you  pass  on,  to 
note  also  its  connection  in  a  second  and  third  and  fourth 
occurrence.  From  the  notions  gathered  out  of  the  connection 
at  one  place  compared  with  those  gathered  in  the  othci-s,  you 
construct  for  yourself  the  definition  of  the  term.  Let  us  apply 
the  simple  principles  to  any  one  of  these  inspired  authors,  and. 
see  what  is  the  meaning  of  "  believe"  here. 


334      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION-   HOW   TO   BE    SAVED. 

We  take  the  gospel  of  John.  On  the  very  first  page  we 
find,  "  He  came  unto  his  own  and  his  own  received  him  not." 
This  you  can  readily  comprehend  ;  for  you  know,  from  your 
own  case,  the  state  of  mind  and  feeling  denoted  by  saying  you 
''  receive"  one  who  comes  :  the  feeling  of  pleasurable  satis- 
faction Avith  which,  when  the  announcement  from  the  door  is 
of  a  favourite  friend,  you  "  receive  "  him.  Also  you  know  the 
feeling,  in  the  contrary  case,  when,  though  treating  the  visitor 
with  all  courtesy,  still  you  in  your  heart  '^  receive  him  not." 
Well,  the  evangelist  proceeds,  "  But  to  as  many  as  received 
liim,  even  to  as  many  as  believed  on  Ids  nane,  he  gave  power  to 
become  the  sons  of  God."  Here,  then,  we  have  discovered 
at  least  a  part  of  the  meaning  of  "  behoving,"  for  the  author 
puts  it  as  synonymous  with  "  receiving  "  Christ.  And  if  after 
you  have  become  acquainted  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as 
we  have  been  contemplating  him,  we  announce  to  you  that 
he  is  here  to  call  on  you,  do  you  receive  him,  with  pleasure- 
able  satisfaction,  analogous  to  that  with  which  you  welcome  a 
friend  ?  If  so,  then,  in  so  far,  you  "  believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

We  turn  over  a  leaf  of  the  author,  and  reading  on, 
we  find,  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness,  even   so  the   Son  of  man   shall   be   lifted   up,    that 

whosoever" Now,  as  the  analogy  recalls  to  our  minds 

the  scene  of  the  dying  Israelites,  lying  scattered  on  the 
hot  sands  of  the  desert,  and  hearing  the  proclamation  "  look 
upon  the  brazen  serpent  that  Moses  hath  raised  on  the  pole 
and  you  shall  not  die,"  we  see,  therefore,  that  the  rhetoric 
would  require  the  writer  to  continue  the  figure  and  say  that 
whosoever  "  looketh  to  him  lifted  up  shall  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  But  instead  of  "  looketli,^^  it  is, 
"  heUevetli  on  him,  shall  not  perish."  Hence  you  discern 
that  "  believing"  is  a  synonym, ^again,  for  that  eager,  long- 
ing look  which  a  dying  Israelite  would  cast  toward  the  ser- 


WHAT    IT    IS    TO    BELIEVE    ON"    CHRIST.  hoO 

pent  on  the  pole.  And  nothing  can  exceed  the  force  and 
beauty  of  that  figure.  You  h:ive  observed  the  power  and 
eloquence  of  a  look,  often  exceeding  all  power  of  speech. 
You  have  seen  it  in  the  speechless  dying  man,  as  he  tries  to 
communicate  his  heart's  desire  without  words.  You  have  felt  it, 
as  a  child,  and  especially  as  a  parent,  when  the  little  one  at 
your  knee,  coveting  some  favourite  object,  as  the  fruit  on  the 
shelf,  yet  fearing  to  ask,  lest  it  be  chilled  with  a  "  no" — that 
most  chilling  of  all  responses  to  a  child  from  one  that  loves  it 
— casts  that  look  of  desire  on  the  coveted  object,  and  looks, 
and  looks  again,  but  dares  not  utter  a  word.  If  now  the 
cliild  would  boldly  ask  for  it  in  words  you  could  refuse  ;  but 
you  have  more  than  the  ordinary  nerve  if  you  do  not  break 
down,  at  last,  under  the  appeal  of  that  elocpient  look,  and 
respond  to  it  by  giving  the  object  of  desire,  or  kindly  explain- 
ing and  apologizing  if  it  cannot  be  given.  Well  now  ''  believ- 
ing" on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  just  that  look  of  desire  as 
the  soul,  in  the  troubles  I  have  described,  sees  Christ  thus  set 
forth  in  the  gospel.  If  you  can  recall  how  you  felt,  as  a  little 
child,  while  you  timidly  plead  by  a  look  when  you  could  not, 
dare  not,  utter  the  wish ;  and  perceive  that  your  present  wish 
for  salvation  is  like  that, — then  this  is  "  believing." 

We  turn  over  another  leaf,  reading  on  and  find,  "  Ye  will 
not  come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life,"  and  again  on  the 
next  page,  "  No  man  can  come  to  me  except  the  Father  draw 
him,"  and  in  immediate  connection,  "  He  that  believeth  on 
me  hath  everlasting  life."  Here,  again,  we  discover  that,  in 
accordance  with  all  the  preceding,  "  believing"  is  synony- 
mous with  "  coming,"  and  the  state  of  mind  implied  in  comin;j; 
to  one  for  relief — involving  at  once  trust  in  his  abiUty  and 
willingness  to  relieve,  and  earnest  desire  for  the  relief.  And 
so  we  might  go  on  througli  the  whole  New  Testament.  It  will 
be  perceived  that  this  '•  believing"  assumes  as  its  very  start- 
ing point  the  ordinary  belief,  historically,  in  Jesus  Clu^ist  as  a 


336      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION   HOW   TO   BE   SAVED. 

Saviour :  and  upon  thai  element  superadds  the  heart  impulses 
of  joyful  acquiescence,  desire  and  confiding  trust  in  liim  as  a 
friend.  While  these  all,  again,  resolve  themselves  into 
simple  willingness  to  have  him  as  our  Saviour  from  sin,  and 
our  Lord. 

But  one  of  the  very  things,  perhaps,  most  difficult  of  belief 
of  all  the  things  in  the  gospel,  is  just  this  conclusion,  to  a  soul 
yet  in  darkness  and  conscious  of  the  burden  of  sin.  And 
therefore,  in  conclusion,  it  may  be  important  to  confirm  all 
that  has  been  said,  by  proving  to  you,  after  the  same  fashion 
Df  reasoning  as  before,  that  this  is  all,  absolutely  all,  that  is 
implied  in  the  terms  of  salvation  stated  by  the  Apostles. 
That  there  is  no  such  consideration  of  good  works  to  be  offered ; 
nor  any  such  amount  of  penitence,  and  such  strength  of 
faith,  to  make  one  worthy,  as  men  will  insist  on  making  a  part 
of  the  condition  of  salvation.  This  proof  can  be  made  very 
conclusive  by  a  brief  examination,  in  comparison  with  the  terms 
offered  to  the  jailer,  of  all  the  forms  of  stating  the  terms  found 
in  the  gospel. 

Of  these  forms  of  statement  there  are  three  classes.  First 
— ^literal  statements.  Second,  representations  of  Christ's 
work  in  his  miracles  by  analogies.  Third,  by  figures  of 
speech.  The  chief  of  the  literal  statements  of  the  terms  seem 
at  first  sight  to  be  somewhat  various  and  even  contradictory. 
In  one  case  the  condition  is  "  repent ;"  in  another  ''  believe  ;" 
in  another  "  repent  and  believe  ;"  in  another  "  repent  and  be 
baptized,"  in  another  "  believe  and  be  baptized;"  in  another 
"  repent  and  be  converted ;"  in  another-  "  whoso  confesseth 
me,  him  will  I  confess  ;"  in  another  "  if  thou  confess  with  thy 
mouth  and  believe  with  thine  iSffim-;  in  another  "  whosoever 
shall  call  upon  tho  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved ;"  in 
another  "  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life 
freely."  But  you  will  find  that,  ^on  a  thoughtful  examination 
of  these  various  statements,  they  are  all  merely  different  ex- 


PROOF  TUAT   BfXIEYIXG  IS  THE  OXLY  CONDITION.    337 

pressions  for  the  same  act  of  soul,  according  as  that  act  is 
viewed  on  its  different  sides,  and  from  different  points  of  view. 
Repentance  is  the  soul,  after  an  apprehension  of  Christ's 
goodness,  contemplating  its  sins ;  faith  is  the  soul,  after  an 
apprehension  of  its  sinfulness  and  helplessness,  looking  from 
its  sins  away  to  Christ ;  conversion  is  the  outer  expression  of 
this  faith  and  repentance  in  the  acts  of  the  life,  turning  away 
from  sin  to  Christ.  Any  soul  that  truly  repents,  believes ; 
any  soul  that  truly  believes,  repents ;  any  soul  that  truly 
believes  and  repents,  ''•  converts"  from  sin  to  Christ,  as  the 
natural  result.  So  "  confessing  Christ"  or  being  "  baptized'' 
— which  is  Christ's  appointed  way  of  confessing  him — arc  the 
outward  expressions  of  the  internal  penitence  and  faith  of 
the  soul,  and  imply  of  course  the  reality  of  that  feeling  which 
ihej  represented.  So  "  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  to 
-oe  saved"  implies  the  penitence  which  creates  the  desire  to 
be  saved,  and  the  faith  which  trusts  in  the  Lord  Jesus  for 
salvation.  And  all,  in  their  last  analysis,  mean  the  same  as 
''  whosoever  will" — wishes  truly — desires  truly — to  have 
Jesus  as  a  Saviour.  And  it  is  in  confirmation  of  all  that  I 
have  said,  to  find  that  our  view  of  the  terms  of  salvation,  as 
set  forth  by  the  Apostles,  so  beautifully  harmonises  and 
explains  all  these  different  expressions  of  the  terms  found 
elsewhere  in  the  gospel. 

A  second  method  of  exhibiting  the  terms  on  which  Christ 
receives  sinners  is  by  the  record  of  his  similar  acts  of  grace, 
in  the  outer  sphere,  by  his  miracles  of  healing.  You  will 
find  in  the  record  of  his  miracles  some  strikiniz;  external 
analogy  to  every  feature  of  that  soul-trouble  which  you 
experience.  And,  doubtless,  it  was  for  this  purpose  that  the 
record  of  so  many  cases  was  made.  It  could  not  be,  as  some 
seem  to  think,  merely  to  record  for  us  the  proofs  of  his 
divine  authority  to  teach,  for,  after  relating  to  usa-how,  at 
his  word,  the  dead  arose  from  the  grave,  and,  at  liis  com- 

w 


338      APOSTOLIC   DIRECTION    HOW   TO   BE   SAVED. 

mand,  the  winds  liushed  their  howling,  and  the  sea  stilled  its 
raging^  what  other  proof  could  we  want  of  his  divine  autho- 
rity ?  For  what  other  purpose  then  this  careful  record  of  all 
the  incidents  of  so  various  cases  of  healing,  than  to  illustrate, 
for  those  in  spiritual  darkness,  how  he  restores  sight  to  the 
blind  ;  to  illustrate  for  those  conscious  of  their  loathsome 
spiritual  disease  how  he  heals  the  leprosy  of  sin  ;  to  illustrate 
by  healing  the  withered  hand,  or  the  jooor  cripple,  how  he 
restores  the  soul  that  cries  what  must  I  do  ?  from  its  sense  of 
utter  helplessness.  And  so  through  the  whole  list  of  spiritual 
troubles.  These  miracles  are  all  so  many  diagrams,  as  of 
the  mathematicians,  whereby  Jesus  will  aid  our  minds  to 
apprehend,  and  comprehend,  those  great  spiritual  truths, 
which  otherwise  so  confuse  us. 

Now,  turning  to  any  of  these  cases  you  find  that  the  same 
great  truth  as  to  the  terms  of  blessing  is  set  forth.  The 
condition  is  only  that,  desiring  the  healing  and  believing  in 
his  power  to  heal,  they  come  and  gratefully  accept  the  gift. 
Nay,  in  many  of  these  cases,  it  is  specially  illustrated,  how 
it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  faith,  or  in  reward  of  strong  faith 
that  he  grants  his  grace.  Both  Matthew  and  Mark  record  for 
us,  how  when  in  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  outside  the 
limits  of  the  Church,  he  met  with  a  case  of  very  strong  faith 
in  a  poor  heathen  woman.  It  was  an  anxious  and  sorrowing 
mother  who  brought  her  little  daughter  possessed  of  a  devil, 
and  fell  in  agony  at  his  feet,  crying,  "  Have  mercy,  0  Lord, 
thou  son  of  David  ! "  For  in  some  way  she  had  been  led  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  ancient  covenant  and  the  belief  that 
Jesus  is  Messiah.  He  tried  her  faith  by  that  severest  of  all 
tests  the  national  prejudices  against  any  claim  of  foreigners 
to  superiority, — saying  "  I  cannot  bestow  gifts  intended  for 
the  peculiar  people  of  God  as  yet  upon  Gentiles  ;  I  cannot 
take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs."  But  the 
mother's  heart,  full  of  the  one  great  idea,  the  suffering  child, 


PROOF  TUAT  BELIEVING  IS  THEON  LY  CONDITION.     339 

forgot  all  prejudice  and  insult ;  and  with  that  irresistible 
logic  of  a  mother-heart,  as  it  were,  cornered  him  with  his 
own  argument,  "  Truth,  Lord,  it  is  wrong  to  take  the  chil- 
dren's bread  for  the  dogs  ;  but  may  not  the  dogs  pick  up  the 
crumbs  that  tba  children  let  fall?  And  wilt  thou  not  let  a 
heathen  dog,  but  still  a  broken-hearted  mother,  have  this 
crmnb  as  thou  art  passing?  The  Saviour's  compassionate 
heart  could  not  resist  the  appeal.  But,  making  an  exception 
in  her  favour,  cried  "  0  !  woman  great  is  thy  faith  !  Go  along, 
go  along,  and  let  it  be  as  you  say." 

Now  if  this  case  of  strong  faith  stood  alone,  you  might 
perhaps  feel  afraid  to  trust  the  gospel  assurance,  when  you 
think  of  your  feeble,  doubting  faith  in  comparison  with  this. 
But,  as  if  to  prevent  that  mistake,  and  to  prove  to  you  that 
"  he  will  not  break  the  bruised  reed  nor  quench  the  smoking 
flax ; "  in  the  very  next  chapter  but  one,  is  told  the  story 
of  the  poor  father  who  came  with  his  boy  similarly  suffering, 
while  the  Saviour  was  up  in  the  mount  of  transfiguration  and  had 
his  faith  all  wrecked,  by  the  failure  of  the  disciples,  from  want 
of  faith,  under  the  worrying  of  the  Pharisees,  to  heal  the  boy. 
As  Jesus  comes  down,  at  length,  the  poor  father  kneels  and 
cries  "  Lord,  if  thou  canst  have  mercy  on  my  son ; "  and,  with 
the  natural  impulse  of  the  father,  rehearses  all  the  details  of 
this  desperate  case — so  desperate,  he  thought,  the  disciples 
were  not  equal  to  the  task.  Seeing  his  darkness  and  doubt, 
Jesus  tests  his  faith  also,  saying  in  effect,  the  "  if"  is  not  with 
me  but  with  you. — "If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things  are 
possible  to  him  that  belie veth."  The  poor  father,  seeing 
that  all  depended  on  belief,  burst  into  an  agony  of  tears, 
crying,  "Lord,  I  believe,"  but,  as  if  fearing  he  had  gone  too 
far,  takes  it  back,  in  the  petition,  "  Help  thou  mine  unbe- 
lief." But  Jesus  pitying  him,  who  had  no  faith  in  his  own 
faith,  took  just  what  he  had  to  offer,  and  healed  his  boy  just 
as  he  had  healed  the  woman's  daughter.  0,  if  you  are  standing 


340      APOSTOLIC  DIRECTION   HOW   TO   BE   SAVED 

back  because  you  fear  that  though  you  desire  Jesus  to  be 
your  Saviour,  you  have  no  faith  or  so  feeble  faith — then  you 
need  not  fear  to  press  your  claim  on  such  a  Saviour,  who 
shows  such  compassion.  If  you  dare  not  say,  "  Lord  I 
believe ;"  yet  pray  "  help  mine  unbelief,"  and  venture  on  him 
fully. 

I  can  only  allude,  in  conclusion,  to  the  third  form  of 
expressing  the  terms  of  salvation,  as  a  final  and  conclusive 
proof,  that  the  only  condition  is  involved  in  the  Apostle's 
statement  as  I  have  expounded  it.  Indeed  it  needs  nothing 
more  than  an  allusion,  since  these  figures  seems  to  be  so 
graded  as  to  express  assurance  of  acceptance  from  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest  degree  of  the  energy  of  faith,  and  that  the 
lowest  will  not  be  rejected.  Thus  you  are  told  to  "Flee 
from  the  wrath  to  come,"  to  the  "  strongholds,"  as  one 
having  the  energy  to  hasten  swiftly,  vigorously.  But  if  you 
plead  *'  I  have  no  energy  of  faith  to  flee,"  then  the  gospel 
saith  ''  come  to  Jesus,"  even  though  you  must  creep  as  the 
poor  lame  man,  or  grope  your  way  as  the  poor  blind  man,  and 
that  shall  be  taken  as  faith.  If  still  you  plead  ''  I  am  utterly 
impotent,  unable  to  move,  so  as  to  come  in  any  way,"  then, 
saith  the  gospel,  "  stretch  forth  thine  hand  and  "  receive  " 
the  Lord  Jesus  for  he  is  nigh  thee  ;  and  that  shall  answer 
as  faith.  Nay,  if  you  still  plead,  ''  I  cannot  stretch  out  a 
hand,  for  the  very  arm  hangs  powerless  as  that  of  the  poor 
man  in  the  gospel,"  then  saith  the  gospel  "Look  to  Jesus," 
for  "  he  that  looketh  upon  him  lifted  up  shall  live."  Naj 
more  yet, — If  still  you  plead,  "  I  cannot  look,  for  alas  the 
hazy  film  of  spiritual  death  is  over  my  eyes,  and  all  is  dark- 
ness," then  saith  the  gospel,  "  Poor  sinner,  if  nothing  else, 
lie  still  just  as  you  are,  and  "  submit  to  the  righteousness  of 
God,"  allowing  Jesus  to  throw  the  robe  of  his  righteousness 
over  thee,  and  that  shall  answer,v  for  '  whosoever  will  ^ 
may  take  him  for  a  Saviour." 


PROOF  THAT  BELIEVING  IS  THE  ONLY  CONDITION.    341 

Brethren,  I  have  finished  what  I  proposed,  and  I  leave  it 
now  for  you  to  say,  whether,  according  to  every  principle  of 
ex|3erience  and  consciousness,  these  terms  of  salvation  could 
he  fuller,  fi'eer,  or  more  precisely  adapted  to  the  state  of 
soul  for  which  they  were  intended,  or  a  more  complete  answer 
to  "  what  must  I  do.'* 

And  hero  again  to-day,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  Jesus  the  Master,  I  say  to  every  soul  in  earnest  and 
troubled  with  the  consciousness  of  sin,  "  Believe  " — "  only 
beUeve  "  not  opinions,  but  on  a  personal  Saviour — not  a  creed, 
but  on  a  Christ—"  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved." 


DISCOURSE  XVI. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  SUMMARY  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  CREED . 

I  Timothy  i.-15. — This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 
that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief. 

The  simplicity  and  comprehensiveness  of  this  saying,  as  a 
summary  of  the  Christian  creed,  has  been  justly  applauded. 
Said  the  elder  Alexander,  after  teaching  theology  forty  years: 
''  The  longer  I  live  the  more  I  incluie  to  sum  up  all  my 
theology  in  the  single  sentence,  '^  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief." 

Nor  let  it  be  supposed  that  this  language  of  the  Apostle, 
even  as  a  summary  of  objectiver  theological  truth  is  meagre 
and  defective.  For  a  thoughful  analysis  of  the  passage 
develops  these  propositions  as  contained  in  it. 

1.  That  men  are  sinners  is  the  fundamental  fact  upon  which 
the  whole  gospel  proceeds,  and  to  which  it  all  refers. 

2.  They  are  sinners  in  a  sense  that  they  need,  not  merely 
reformation,  cultivation,  elevation  by  a  Socrates  ;  but  salvation 
by  a  Jesus,  that  saves  ;  and  therefore  must  expiate  sin. 

3.  The  Jesus  that  saves  must  needs  be  also  Christ  the 
"  anointed,"  appointed — commissioned  of  God  as  Mediator, 
and  therefore  be  divine. 

4.  The  "  Christ"  must  needs  "  Come  into  the  ivorld^^ 
thereby  becoming  Son  of  man,  as  well  as  Son  of  God. 

5.  This  view,  as  objective  truth,  logically  self-consistent 
and  accordant  with  first  truths,  commends  itself  to  the 
rational  understanding  as  faithful — "  reliable  " — '*  behev- 
able" — to  be  confided  in  as  truth. 

6.  Also,  as  subjective,  experimental  truth,  it  commends 


344  APOSTOLIC    SUMMARY    OF    THE    GOSPEL. 

itself  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  universal  humanity,  as 
worthy  of  joyful  acceptance. 

7.  The  practical  result  of  its  acceptance  is  a  humility  out 
of  which  springs  the  profoundest  conviction  that  this  gospel 
is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost.  For  each  feeling  himself 
chief  of  sinners,  because  knowing  more  of  his  own  heart  than 
of  other  people's,  conceives  that  a  gospel  that  met  his  case  can 
meet  any  case. 

But  I  conceive,  brethren,  that  neither  the  peculiar  power 
of  this  Apostolic  summary,  nor  the  key  to  its  interpretation, 
lies  so  much  in  its  brevity  and  comprehensiveness,  as  in  the 
glowing  fervour  which  pervades  it,  as  the  grateful  heart-utter- 
ance of  personal  experience.  As  one  snatched  from  death's 
door,  unexpectedly  to  enjoy  the  pulsations  of  a  new  life  and 
health,  gratefully  attests,  and  feels  that  he  cannot  over-esti- 
mate, the  skill  which  warded  off  from  him  the  deadly  assaults 
of  disease — and  enthusiastically  urges  that  all  the  sick  should 
try  his  physician  ;  so  the  Apostle  here  says  in  effect — 
"  I  whose  case  was  so  utterly  hopeless — I  a  blasphemer  and 
a  persecutor  of  his  people — now,  a  sinner  saved  by  grace, 
stand  a  monument  of  his  infinite  power  and  goodness.  Who 
can  doubt  the  reliability  of  a  gospel  that  saved  me  ?  Or  who 
can  hesitate  to  try  a  remedy  that  met  successfully  such  soul 
diseases  as  mine  ?" 

Without  therefore  going  into  an  exposition,  theologically, 
of  the  points  shown  to  be  involved  in  the  Apostle's  summary, 
but  looking  rather  to  his  earnest  commendation  of  it,  as  worthy 
the  confidence  and  glad  acceptance  of  all,  I  propose  simply 
to  show  any  of  you,  who  have  not  accepted  it,  that  this  gospel 
view  of  man  the  sinner,  ruined  and  helpless,  and  of  Christ 
Jesus  as  the  Saviour  suited  to  the  case,  commends  itself  to 
your  understanding  as  entirely  reliable  ;  and  is  worthy  your 
glad  acceptance  ;  and  that  Jesus  is  ready  to  accept  you,  how- 
ever great  a  sinner  you  may  be.     In  order  that  you  may  the 


MAN  A  SINNER — THE  FUNDAMENTAL  GOSPEL  FACT.  345 

more  readily  comprel. end  my  argument,  I  shall  gather  the 
elements  of  it  from  your  own  knowledge  of  facts,  and  your 
own  conscious  experience. 

1.  "  Came  to  save  sinnej's.''  As  just  stated  the  peculiarity 
of  the  true  gospel  of  Christ,  and  that  which  distinguishes  it, 
at  once,  from  all  gospels  of  mere  human  device,  is  that  it 
assumes,  as  its  fundamental  fact,  that  men  are  sinners  ;  guilty 
sinners  under  wrath  ;  helpless  sinners,  in  a  state  of  utter  ruin. 
^'  He  shall  be  called  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from 
their  sins,"  was  the  word  from  heaven  that  heralded  his 
coming.  "  The  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  save  that 
which  was  lost,"  and,  "  I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous  but 
sinners  to  repentance.  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a 
physician  but  they  that  are  sick,"— this  was  his  own  formal 
declaration  of  the  purpose  of  his  mission.  And  in  his  wonderful 
discourse  in  defence  of  his  conduct  in  mingling  with  publicans 
and  sinners,  against  the  Pharisees,  the  point  of  his  argument 
was  to  shew  that  saving  sinners  is  the  grand  enterprise  which 
interests  all  heaven.  That  the  mission  of  the  mediator  was  to 
search  for  straying  sinners  ;  and  the  mission  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  was,  through  the  Church,  to  search  for  lost  sinners, 
as  for  lost  treasure  ;  that  in  consequence  of  this,  God  the 
father  received  back  with  joy  the  prodigal  sinners,  and  the 
holy  angels,  full  of  sympathy  with  the  enterprise  of  infinite 
love,  rejoiced  over  the  lost  sinner  found.  That  no  being  in 
the  universe,  outside  of  hell,  but  ethical  religionists  of  the 
Pharisee  order,  did  not  rejoice  at  seeing  such  love  to  lost 
sinners. 

If,  as  some  in  our  day  will  have  it,  Christ  Jesus  came 
merely  to  teach  and  to  set  an  example  of  virtue, — that  would 
imply  that  darkness,  and  ignorance  only  was  the  trouble  with 
men.  If,  as  others  will  have  it,  he  came  merely  to  have 
them  pardoned  ;  that  would  imply  simply  thouglitlessness, 
frailty  and  errors  of  judgment.    But  when  it  is  declared  that 


346  .APOSTOLIC    SUMMARY    OF    THE    GOSPEL. 

Christ  Jesus  cama  to  save  sinners ;  that  implies  a  state  of 
wreck  and  utter  spiricual  ruin. 

It  would,  indeed,  seem  superfluous,  at  first  signt,  that  one 
should  undertake  to  demonstrate  to  men  that  they  are  sin- 
ners, in  a  world  such  as  this, — -so  full  of  sin  and  its  curse, — 
and  whose  inhabitants  so  universally  seem  ready  to  admit 
that  thay  "  err  and  go  astray  like  lost  sheep."     And  yet  un- 
belief on  this  very  point  lies  at  the  foundation  of  most  of  th3 
in^delity  and^ contempt  for  the  gospel  that  everywhere  pre- 
vails.    The  gospel  according  to  Channing,  of  the  dignity  of 
human  nature ;  the  gospel  according  to  Renan,  of  the  sentimental 
and  transcendental  oneness  with  God  of  human  nature  ;  and 
th3  gospel  according  to  Owen  and  Holyoake  of  the    mere 
anlmahsm  of  human  nature,  all  alike  reject  the  gospel  idea 
of  a  Christ  Jesus — Saviour — because    all    alike  ignore   the 
gospel  doctrine  of  man  a  sinner,,  in  the  gospel  sense.     And 
for  precisely  a  hke  reason,  differing  only  in  degree,  many  of 
you  who  do  not  scoff  with  the  devotees  of  either  of  these 
gospels,  at  the  doctrines  of  atonement  for  sin,  yet  your  minds 
are  in   darkness  and   doubt   on  the    whole    subject    of  the 
doctrine  of  atonement  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  simply  be- 
cause, though  you  make  the  general  admission  that  all  men 
are  sinners  and  you  among  them  ;  yet  you  have  not  clearly 
apprehended  that  they  are  sinners  in  the  gospel  sen^e.     Not 
comprehending  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  disease,  you  can 
not,  of  course,  comprehend  fully  and  clearly  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  remedy.     And  therefore    while  from  the  im- 
pressions of  early  education  you  are  not  disposed  to  deny 
the  general  statements  of  the  gospel,  you  cannot  avoid  the 
secret  feehng  that  the  case  is  overstated  ;  that  the  gospel 
does  not   accord  with   your  consciousness   in   those    strong 
statements   of  the   "  death   of  trespasses   and   sins  ;"    the 
"  carnal  heart  enmity  against  God  ;"  and  the  heart  "  des- 
perately wicked,''  &c. 


MAN  A  SINNER — THE  FUNDAMENTAL  GOSPEL  FACT.  347 


Come  then,  let  us  reason  together  of  this  matter — looking 
for  the  elements  of  our  argument,  not  among  the  dogmas  of 
theology  which  you  profess  not  to  understand,  but  down  into 
the  depths  of  your  own  spirit. 

By  way  of  removing  obstacles,  and  getting  upon  a  common 
ground  of  argument,  let  me  first  premise  a  few  things  which 
the  gospel  does  not  imply  in  saying  that  Jesus  comes  to  save 
sinners. 

It  does  not  imply,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  state  of  ruin 
is  complete  and  final  as  that  of  "  the  angels  that  kept  not 
their  first  estate."  According  to  the  gospel,  what  specially 
distinguishes  the  estate  of  ruin  in  the  present  life  is,  that  it  is 
a  ruin  merely  in  progress.  The  sorrow  that  sin  brings  as  its 
curse  is  mingled  here  with  the  tokens  of  a  mercy  and  love 
that  forbears  because  the  Christ  Jesus  has  interposed,  and  is 
yet  carrying  on  his  work  of  saving  sinners. 

The  state  which  is  to  follow  this  is  that  in  which  the 
sorrow  which  the  sin  brings  with  it  is  no  longer  alleviated  by 
the  tokens  of  mercy  and  of  purposed  restoration.  This  gos- 
pel, observe,  says  he  ''  came  into  the  luorld,  to  save  dinners  ;" 
but  he  goes  not  into  hell  to  save  sinners.  The  virus  of  the 
spiritual  death  has  been  taken  into  the  system,  and  the  death 
stupor  only  is  upon  you  hero  ;  from  this  ho  comes  to  arouse 
you. 

Hence  you  will  observe  the  wide  difference  between  the 
gospel  view  of  the  ruined  and  depraved  condition  of  hum:iii- 
ity,  and  the  cold,  cynical  contempt  for  the  littleness  a:id 
meanness  of  man  expressed  by  the  infidel  philosoph3%  tlKit 
recognizes  no  higher  estate  from  which  man  fell,  nor  higher 
estate  to  which  he  may  be  restored  again.  While  the  gospel 
describes  you  as  a  soul  in  utter  ruin,  it  recognizes  the  fact 
that  the  ruin  is  of  a  temple  originally  glorious  ;  while  it 
represents  your  moral  nature  as  a  chaos,  without  form  and 
void  and  darkness  upon  it ;  at  the  same  time,  all  the  ele- 


'348  APOSTOLIC   SUMMARY    OF   THE    GOSPEL. 

ments  of  a  beautiful  cosmos  are  hidden  within  the  chaos  ; 
and  when  God  who  "  called  the  light  to  shine  out  of  dark- 
:^ess"  hath  shined  into  your  hearts  the  process  of  reconstruc- 
tion shall  begin,  and  go  on  until  a  holy  God  shall  pronounce 
-it  good.     While  the  gospel  represents  your  spiritual  nature 
xis  a  desolate  waste  ;  it  is  yet  the   desolation  of  a  wasted 
Eden,  over  which  the  fierce  storms  are  breaking  in  their 
fury,  but  the  germs  of  a  beautiful  life  are  sleeping  in  its 
•soil,  which  the  warm  breath  of  God  can  call  out  again  in  due 
season.     This  gospel  does  not  mean  to  deny,  then,  that  there 
are  germs  of  its  original  greatness  still  in  the  soul :  that  its 
power  of  moral  perception  is  still  there  ;  and  its  romantic 
admiration  for  that  which  is  noble  and  manly  and  God-like  is 
still  there,  even  in  its  "  death  of  trespasses  and  sins." 

Nor  does  the  saying,  "  came  to  save  sinners  "  imply  on 
your  part  a  vivid  consciousness  of  the  utter  alienation  from 
God  involved  in  this  sinful  estate.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
-Standard  by  which  the  gospel  measures  acts  of  obedience  to 
•God  may  be  much  higher  than  yours ;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  you  may  be  unconscious  of  the  real  extent  of  your 
ruin,  measured  even  by  your  own  standard.  You  may  be 
but  another  illustration  of  the  Apostle's  other  saying,  "  If 
our  gospel  be  hid  it  is  hid  to  them  that  are  lost,  in  whom  the 
God  of  this  world  hath  blinded  their  ^j/es,"  &c. 

With  these  limitations  of  the  meaning  of  the  gospel  in 
: saying  you  are  a  sinner  so  ruined  and  helpless  as  to  need  a 
divine  Saviour  ; — let  us  look  now  for  the  evidence  confirming 
that  saying  within  these  limits. 

In  the  first  place,  if  you  accept  the  gospel  story  at  all, 
then  the  fact  that  such  a  being  as  Christ  Jesus  should  speak 
of  you  in  such  terms  as  he  does,  is  at  once  very  strong  pre- 
.sumptive  evidence  that  there  must  be  something  dreadful  in 
your  condition.  For  of  all  teachers  that  ever  spake,  Jesus  is 
■the  last  that  could  be  supposed  to  use  terms  of  exaggerated 


REASON  AND  CONSCIOUSNESS  ATTEST  THE  FACT.    349' 

harshness,  or  of  rhetorically  overstating  the  character  and 
condition  of  men  on  the  side  of  evil.  The  tenderness  of  feel- 
ing that  wept  over  a  city  full  of  malignant  enemies,  saying, 
apologetically,  "0  that  thou  hadst  known:"  the  love  that 
amidst  agonies  inconceivable,  could  pray  for  those  that  were 
inflicting.thc  agonies,  and  plead,  apologetically,  "  They  know 
not  what  they  do,"  ''Father  forgive  them,"  would  surely 
prevent  him  from  using  terms  harsher  than  the  facts  warrant, 
in  setting  forth  your  condition  before  God.  If,  therefore,  it 
seem  to  you  that  his  statements  go  beyond  your  consciousness 
and  moral  judgments  in  this  case,  does  not  that  rather  ar^-ue 
that  his  moral  standard  is  higher  than  yours,  and  his  spiritual 
insight  deeper  and  more  piercing  than  yours,  and  his  know- 
ledge of  your  condition  better  than  yours  ? 

Now,  in  addition  to  these  considerations,  when  you  proceed 
thoughtfully  to  consider  the  facts  of  your  own  consciousness 
and  the  movements  of  the  moral  nature  within  you,  they  will 
be  found  to  confirm  all  that  the  gospel  says  of  your  estate  of 
sinful  ruin. 

Beginning  with  the  most  palpable  of  your  inner  conscious- 
ness, I  would  remind  you  that,  whatever  may  be  your  theories, 
you  find  yourself  here  in  a  world  full  of  trouble  and  sorrow. 
And  such  is  the  constitution  of  your  moral  nature  that  you 
cannot  avoid  associating  in  thought,  the  existence  of  the  evil 
with  the  existence  of  sin  as  the  cause  of  it.  ISTor  can  you 
avoid  the  impression  of  some  sort  of  moral  disorder  in  the 
relation  of  men  to  the  infinitely  Good  Being  who,  as  reason 
teaches  you,  must  govern  the  universe  of  men.  And,  as 
matter  of  fact,  moreover  you  find  that  the  greatest  of  your 
own  sorrows,  such  as  arouse  your  soul  to  its  depths, -never  fail 
to  develop  in  you  a  consciousness  or  at  least  a  suspicion 
more  or  less  definite  and  distinct,  which  connects  the  sorrow 
as  a  judgment  back  with  some  sin  done  as  the  cause  of  it, 
and  of  which  it  is  the  penalty.     It  is  the  propensity  of  men 


350  APOSTOLIC    SUMMARY    OF    THE    GOSPEL. 

nniversallj,  whether  enhghtened  or  ignorant,  thus  to  associate 
sin  and  suffering  together  as  cause  and  effect.  Of  course  we 
except  from  the  rule  the  mad  dreams  of  genius,  such  as  those 
dark  atheistic  vagaries  of  Shellej  that  conceive  of  the  uni- 
verse as  under  the  rule  of  a  malignant  being  delighting  in 
the  infliction  of  pain,  and  also  the  artificial  moral  natures  of 
men  run  mad  with  their  own  theories  of  no  sin  in  the  universe. 

Another  palpable  fact  is  that  you  are  surrounded  bj  a 
•world  full  of  wrong ;  of  men  that  do  wrong ;  of  men  that 
applaud  men  that  do  wrong  :  yea  vfhose  hero-worship  is  at  the 
shrine  of  monsters  of  wrong-doing.  Nor  can  you  hide  from 
yourself  the  fact — ^however  partial  to  yourself  in  your  moral 
judgments — that  you  partake  of  the  common  nature,  and  are 
oftentimes  a  wrong-doer  also.  And  that  all  this  wrong-doing 
is  against  God's  order — and  the  proper  order — is  also  an 
instinctive  impression  of  your  nature;  however  you  may 
thank  God  that  you  are  not  as  other  men  in  the  extent  of 
your  wrong-doing.  Yet  like  all  other  men  you  feel  the  tragic 
impulse  of  your  moral  nature  giving  forth  its  judgments 
that  this  transgression  and  disobedience  should  receive  a  just 
recompense  of  reward.  You  find  also  an  inarticulate  logic  of 
the  moral  nature  inferring  that  somehow  there  must  be  vast 
moral  disorder,  in  the  present  state,  under  which  so  much 
wrong  goes  unwhipped  of  justice.  And,  withal,  an  occasional 
suspicion  that  your  own  future  may  yet  bring  the  reckoning, 
and  a  conscious  dread  at  the  thought  of  it,  if  *' judgment 
is  laid  to  the  line  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet." 

Now  in  all  such  impressions  and  impulses  you  are  but  find- 
ing attestations  to  the  gospel  saying  of  "  Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  And  in  that  very  shyness 
of  feeling  which  you  may  detect  in  your  own  heart  at  the 
thought  of  coming  into  the  presence  of  God  even  now,  and 
that  shrinking  back  from  the  thought  of  death,  you  attest  the 
fact  that  you  are  conscious  of  sin.     For  if  innocent,  and  not 


REASON,  ETC.,    ATTEST  THE  FACT  AS  FAITHFUL.    351 

a  sinner,  what  has  innocence  to  fear  in  all  the  realms  of  God, 
go  -where  it  maj  ?  Or,  if  merely  frail  and  erring,  why  should 
mere  frailty  and  error  be  afraid  of  a  Being  -whose  benevolence 
is  "written  all  over  the  works  of  his  hands  ?  Or  why  should  a 
soul  not  conscious  of  impurity,  and  a  conscience  untroubled 
with  guilt,  shrink  as  you  find  yourself  shrink,  even  now,  from 
coming  into  the  more  immediate  presence  of  a  Holy  God, 
though  it  be  only  in  thought  to  commune  with  him  ? 

Still  more  palpable  facts  of  consciousness  attest  the  dis- 
order in  your  spiritual  nature.  What  means  this  paradox, 
which  you  cannot  have  failed  to  notice — the  infinite  dispropor- 
tion between  your  moral  impulses  and  conceptions,  and  your 
ability  to  realize  them  ?  Why  are  these  better  aspirations 
always  thwarted  by  some  inertia  of  will  that  leads  you  ever 
to  lag  in  the  execution,  or  some  jar  of  the  passions  with 
them,  or  some  opposing  impulse  just  on  the  theatre  of  action  ? 
That  somehow  your  own  judgment  is  set  at  derision  by  the 
lawless  appetites  and  passions  Avhich  it  ought  to  govern  ? 
That  your  prudence  is  not  equal  to  the  task  of  restraining 
your  impulses  to  do  evil ;  and  yet  often  interposes  its 
restraints  upon  the  more  generous  impulses  of  your  nature  to 
do  some  worthy  or  noble  deeds  ?  You  boast  of  your  reason 
and  intelligence,  which  can  be  led  only  by  logical  arguments 
and  indisputable  proof  to  convictions  that  the  gospel  is 
worthy  of  acceptance.  You  boast  of  your  determined  will, 
that  can  restrain  you  from  sinful  indulgence.  You  boast  of 
your  practical  judgment,  as  the  guide  of  your  life.  But  why 
is  the  reason  and  intelligence  so  often  outwitted  by  the  plea 
of  appetite  and  strong  temptation  ?  Why  does  the  strong  will 
display  its  power  chiefly  in  overruling  your  conscience  ? 
Why  are  the  practical  judgments  set  aside,  so  often,  in  the 
thoughts,  and  the  acts  of  the  life  so  wholly  given  up  to  the 
things  which  reason  must  teach  you  are  unworthy  to  be  the 
chief  concerns  of  an  immortal  creature, — "  things  that  perish 


352  APOSTOLIC    SU^LMAEY    OF    THE    GOSPEL.  .j 

i 
in  the  using  ?"     Why  do  you,  a  being  gifted  with  the  strong 
"will  and  the  practical  wisdom,  allow  yourself  to  become  the  ; 
servile  creature  of  the  mere  shams  and  shows  of  life  Avhich   ■ 
yjur  loftier  sentiments  revolt  at,  and  your  profoundest  con- 
victions condemn  as  unworthy  of  you  ? 

See  you  not  that  this  whole  moral  and  spiritual  nature 
within  you  is  in  a  state  of  hopeless  disorder  ?  Just  attempt  for  | 
an  hour  to  watch,  as  one  watches  the  processes  in  a  bee-hive,  ' 
the  workings  of  thought,  emotion  and  conscience  ;  and  how  ■ 
plain  is  it  that  all  within  is  a  disordered  wreck.     Whatever 
the  philosophers  may  teach  you  of  the  laws  of  association  of  j 
thou'^ht,  to  what  small  extent  can  the  operation  of  any  law  i 
be  discovered,  eapocially  when  you  would  make  God  and 
your  relations  to  him,  and  the  utterances  of  your  conscience,  ; 
and  your  condition  morally  and  spiritually  the  subject  of 
thought.     How  impulses,   as   it  were   from  without,   whose 
source  no  law  can  trace,  rush  in  and  break  up  the  train  in 
defiance  of  all  laws  of  association.     How  suggestions  base,  ^ 
impure,  impious,  wild,  unaccountable,  make  the  soul  as  very  ; 
bedlam  1    As  well  attempt  to  trace  the  laws  of  harmony  of 
the  sounds  from  some  worn-out  and  broken  musical  instrument 
upon  which  half  a  score  of  rollicking  children  are  beating !  One 
that  makes  the  attempt  in  earnest  will  indeed  be  ready  to 
accept  the  theory  that  the  human  soul  is  but  a  wrecked  and 
broken  harp,  its  strings  all  passive,  save  as  struck  by  wild 
demons  in  their  infernal  freaks ;  until  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  [ 
aid  was  procured  by  him  who  saves  sinners,  retunes  the  harp  i 
and  draws  forth  by  his  divine  touch  the  heavenly  music  which  I 
it  was  originally  framed  to  make  to  God's  glory.  \ 

And  still  another  most  palpable  proof  of  the  moral  ruin  of 
your  soul  may  be  found  in  your  experience  touching  those 
very  impulses  and  powers  within  you,  which  the  humanitarian 
gospels  flatteringly  cite  to  you  .as  evidences  that  our  gospel 
overstates  the  case.      These  higher  and  better  aspirations  of  \ 


I^EASON,  ETC.,  ATTEST  THE  FACT  AS  FAITHFUL.  353 

"which  jou  arc  capable ;  the  immortal  fires  which  slumber 
within  you ;  and  the  powers  of  high  spiritual  life  which  give 
so  much  dignity  to  that  soul  that  the  gospel  of  Paul  pronounces 
fallen  and  depraved. 

Granted  all !  But  alas,  what  should  be  more  humiliating  to 
you  than  to  find  that  these  noble  impulses  and  aspirations 
have,  somehow,  a  dead  weight  upon  them  which  they  cannot 
lift.  That  these  immortal  fires  are,  somehow,  ever  smould- 
ering and  smoking,  never  blazing  forth !  That  these  powers  of 
a  high  spiritual  life  are,  somehow,  so  shackled  that  they  never 
can  actualize  themselves  in  lofty  action,  and  realize  the  noble 
ideal  that  flits  before  you  !  Your  will  is  strong  enough — but 
then  do  you  will  according  to  conscience  ?  or,  even  if  in 
accordance  with  conscience,  is  the  will  obeyed  ?  Somehow  you 
do  not  execute  what  you  will  to  be  done  !  With  the  Apostle, 
you  find  a  law  in  your  members,  that  when  you  would  do  good 
evil  is  ever  present.  And  at  times,  perhaps,  you  have 
almost  cried  with  the  Apostle,  "  0,  wretched  man  that  I 
am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?" — 
though  you  did  not  reach  in  your  experience  his  answer  of 
deliverance,  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord." 

This  soul  of  yours,  somehow  does  not  obey  the  strong  will ! 
All  the  currents  of  habit  set  in  against  the  will ;  the  volcanic 
fires  of  passion  burst  out  and  overflow,  in  disregard  of  its 
authority !  If  you  doubt  it,  then  just  will  once  to  serve 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  see  how  much  respect  your  will  can  com- 
mand. You  will  see  how  the  world  and  its  interests  set  your 
will  at  defiance — nay  you  have  seen  it.  ITow  base  motives 
creep  m,  and  you  cannot  expel  them  !  How  you  resolve  to 
cast  off  the  world  with  its  pomps  and  vanities,  and  find  them 
mock  your  efforts  !  How  you  try  to  flee  from  these  evil  sug- 
gestions and  thoughts,  and  find  yourself  as  a  man  trying  to  run 
away  from  his  shadow  !  Hoav  you  resolve  to  control  your  evil 
thoughts,  evil  tempers,  and  evil  habits,  and  rise  to  the  true- 

X 


354  APOSTOLIC   SUMMARY   OF   THE    GOSPEL. 

ideal  of  spiritual  character,  and  yet  the  wild  thoughts  and 
fierce  tempers  and  lawless  habits  seem  to  chase  you,  and  grin 
at  you  in  derision ! 

Indeed,  can  we  conceive  of  any  aspect  of  human  nature 
more  affecting  than  this  capacity  for  noble  and  lofty  concep- 
tions, with  an  utter  powerlessness  to  execute  them?  So  may 
you  have  seen  some  poor  sufferer  with  the  body  utterly  palsied 
and  powerless  to  any  effort,  even  the  movement  of  a  muscle, 
or  of  the  tongue  itself,  while  yet  the  intellect  is  unimpaired, 
and  its  powers  evidently  in  full  play  within.  There  lies  the 
poor  sufferer  on  his  bed  ;  the  eye  still  gleaming  with  intelli- 
gence, but  the  tongue  powerless  to  utter  it ;  the  strong  will 
in  full  play,  yet  not  a  muscle  will  obey  its  behest ;  the  powers 
of  intelligent  conception  actively  at  w^ork  within,  yet  not  a 
motion  to  signify  their  existence,  which  can  be  inferred  only 
from  the  anxious  and  beseeching  eloquence  that  speaks  from 
the  eye.  If  you  have  ever  seen  the  case,  it  was  more  affect- 
ing and  distressing  to  you  than  the  death  itself  which  would 
release  the  spirit  from  the  dead  body. 

Now  very  analogous  to  this  is  the  case  with  these  immortal 
spiritual  powers  within  you,  helplessly  chained  to  the  moral 
body  Oi  sin  and  death.  What  more  affecting  proof  could 
be  o!i[ered  of  the  spiritual  ruin  in  the  soul  than  a  spirit  with 
such  faculties  and  capacities  bound  fast  to  a  moral  corpse  and 
crying :  "  Who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death?" 

So  far  from  any  contrariety  to  the  gospel  statement,  the 
existence  of  such  impulses  and  faculties  in  the  soul,  without 
power  of  realizing  themselves  in  act,  is '  the  very  strongest 
confirmation  of  the  gospel  view  that  the  soul  is  all  in  a  state 
of  disorder  and  disease,  a  wreck  lying  in  its  ruins,  incapable 
of  being  restored  except  by  the  Christ  Jesus  Avho  comes  to 
save  sinners.  Thus  the  argument^  from  the  facts  of  conscious- 
ness cumulates  at  every  step  in  proof  that  the  gospel  assumes 


TIIEKEMEOY  ACCKPTAELE  TO  EEASOX  &  CONSCIENCE.  355 

rightlj  that  you  arc  a  sinner  in  this  strong  sense  of  helpless- 
ness and  rain. 

You  -will  observe  that  I  have  not  even  alluded  yet  to  facts, 
in  that  stiil  -wider  field  of  argument,  concerning  those  lovr', 
brutal  instincts  and  more  animal  appetites  and  passions  -which 
have  so  poAverful  a  sway  in  your  soul ;  and  which  your  own 
moral  judgmeiits  at  once  condemn  as  unworthy  of  your  nature, 
and  making  you  odious  in  the  oyes  of  all  pure  and  holy  beings. 
I  have  avoided  that  field  of  argument,  and  chosen  rather  the 
evidence  from  those  very  phenomena  on  the  ground  of  which 
you  may  think  the  gospel  overstates  your  case.  And  I  wish 
too  to  avoid  raising  any  incidental  questions  of  dispute,  or 
unnecessarily  arousing  your  pride,  or  exciting  in  you  suspi- 
cions of  the  fairness  of  the  argument.  But,  even  thus 
narrowly  confined,  is  not  the  proof  conclusive  that  the  saying 
which  represents  you  a  lost  and  ruined  sinner,  is  one  so  much 
in  accordance  with  your  own  knowledge  and  experience,  as  to 
make  it  to  your  rational  understanding  a  "  faithful  "  saving, 
one  entirely  reliable  and  to  bo  confidently  believed. 

And  now  if  on  the  back  of  all  these  natural  experiences, 
you  have  been  moved  upon  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  I  have  no 
doubt  you  have  been,  more  or  less  powerfully  ;  —if  he  hath 
awakened  your  conscience  to  new  sensibility,  opened  the 
blind  eyes  of  your  spiritual  vision,  that  you  may  behold 
something  of  your  guilt  and  misery,  and  of  the  holiness  of  his 
law;  and  if  he  hath  enlightened  the  understanding  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  then  will  you  need  no  further  argu- 
ment to  confirm  it  as  a  faithful  saying  that  you  are  a  sinner, 
guilty  and  condemned,  as  well  as  helpless  and  ruined  before 
God,  and  be  prepared  to  comprehend  the  argument  from 
experience  showing  that  the  other  gospel  statement  of  Christ 
Jesus  as  the  Saviour  suited  to  such  a  case  is  also  a  "  faithful 
saying  "  commending  itself  to  your  implicit  belief. 

2.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  degree  of  your  con- 


*^56         APOSTOLIC   SUMMARY   OF   THE   GOSPEL. ~ 

Action  of  sin  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  you  may  readily  comprehend 

-en  from  the  natural  experiences  of  conscJoasness  which  I 

'ave  been  describing,  what  I  shall  now  say,  in  brief  outline, 

uf  the  adaptedness  of  the  Saviour^  Christ  Jesus,  as  held  forth 

m  the  gospel  to  this  spiritual  condition  of  man  the  sinner. 

He  ''  came  into  the  world. ''^  He  took  the  human  nature 
upon  him,  to  this  very  end,  among  others,  that  these  sinners 
might  be  able  to  comprehend  the  love  of  the  Being  against 
whom  they  sinned  ;  and  with  their  finite  conceptions  commune 
with  him.  He  came,  the  "brightness  of  the  Father's  glory 
and  the  express  image  of  his  person  !"  yet  so  veiling  the 
dazzling  brightness  that  you  might  look  upon  him.  The 
infinite  in  him  puts  on  the  measure  of  the  finite  to  hold 
converse  with  finite  minds.  Christ  Jesus  is  the  love  of  God, 
the  mercy  of  God,  the  holiness  of  God,  the  sympathy  of 
God  for  man,  all  embodied  for  you  in  the  form  of  a  fellow- 
being,  to  encourage  you  to  approach  God  for  the  settlement 
of  this  sin  difficulty  ;  that  you  may  speak  to  him  as  man  to 
,ns  fellow,  and  tell  the  story  of  the  soul  disorder  and  soul 
^roubles,  with  the  conviction  that  he  generously  sympathizes 
j^ith  you  and  is  ready  to  help  you.  Nay,  Christ  Jesus  comes 
expressly  in  the  character  of  a  teacher,  a  prophet  sent  from 
"^•od,  to  expound  for  you  the  causes  of  this  disorder  in  the 
» vii  and  to  point  out  the  remedy.  Need  I  tell  you  that,  in 
:^'«5  whole  aspect  of  the  gospel's  Christ  Jesus,  you  find  your 
^ase  precisely  met  ?  That  all  this  exactly  suits  the  darkness 
.1  iiimd,  and  indefiniteness  of  conception,  which  has  over- 
whelmed you  when  you  endeavoured  to  conceive  of  God 
definitely  enough  to  speak  of  him;  and  the  vague,  dreamy 
floating  of  the  thoughts  when  you  tried  to  pray,  until  all  idea 
of  God  seemed  to  vanish  and  you  found  yourself  talking  to 
nothmg  ?  That  this  view  of  him,  presents  him  as  now  saying 
to  you  just  as  truly  as  he  said  to  those  who  heard  him  in  the 
fi'^sh  those  simplo  instructions  of  the  nature  of  his  kingdom  and 


THE  REMEDY  ACCEPTABLE  TO  REASON  &  CONSCIENCE.  337 

the  terms  of  forgiveness  ?  And  that  jou  need  no  longer  Hstcn 
to  the  mere  opinions  and  theories  of  learned  scribes  as  they 
speculate  of  sin  and  its  remedy ;  but  have  one  to  direct  you 
who  "  speaks  witli  authority  and  not  as  the  scribes  ?" 

And  so  with  the  gospel  view  of  this  "  Christ  Jesus,"  coming 
to  render  a  life  of  perfect  obedience  to  that  law  to  which  he 
was  not,  as  other  creatures,  subject,  but  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  great  body  of  wliom  he  is  the  head  ;  and  then  as 
the  guiltless  one  to  make  atoning  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the 
world  to  take  away  the  sin,  and  have  it  remembered  no  more  ; 
thereby  enabling  the  sinful  creatures  to  stand,  as  represented 
in  him,  guiltless  before  God,  and  clad  in  his  righteousness. 
Keed  I  point  out  to  you  how  precisely  this  meets  that  con- 
sciousness of  sin  that  makes  you  dread  the  presence  of  God  ? 
How,  as  that  deep  sense  of  guilt  would  frighten  you  away, 
Jesus  Christ  meets  you  to  show  you  how,  incorporated  with 
him,  you  can  suffer  the  penalty  of  your  sins  to  roll  over  upon 
his  innocence,  and  not  merely  be  passed  over  and  sentence 
remitted,  but ''  tahen  aiowj^''  as  though  it  existed  not.  And 
how,  therefore,  you  can  approach  God  with  all  the  innocent 
confidence  of  a  little  child  and  be  adopted  as  his  child  ?  Thus 
satisfying  at  once  your  sense  of  moral  justice  by  showing  you 
that  the  penalty  has  been  paid  for  you,  while  he  assures  you 
of  the  love  of  God  who  gave  his  only  begotten  to  die  f:>r  you. 

And  so  again  with  the  gospel  view  of  the  "  Christ  Jesus," 
as  securing  also  by  his  death  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
from  on  high,  whereby  those  that  accept  him  as  a  Saviour  are 
"created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works."  That 
power  that  restores  the  disorders  of  the  soul ;  renews  the 
will ;  gives  it  strength  to  keep  the  disorderly  passions  in 
subjection,  imparts  vigour  to  the  better  nature,  to  maintain  the 
struggle  against  the  passions  and  lusts  in  the  soul,  and  to  live 
the  life  of  grateful  consecration  to  him.  Need  I  point  out  to 
you  how  precisely  adapted  is  such  a  Saviour  to  the  necessities 


358  APOSTOLIC    SUMMARY    OF    THE    GOSPEL. 

of  that  ruined  and  disordered  soul  wliich  we  have  been  describ- 
ing? How  accepting  this  offer  you  may  go  boldly  forward, 
feeble  as  you  are,  feeling  you  ''  can  do  all  things  Christ  Jesus 
strengthening  you  ?" 

Thus  even  so  far  as  the  testimony  of  your  inward  experience 
goes,  you  can  see  that  this  gospel  saying,  both  as  to  your 
disease  and  the  remedy  for  it,  is  one  that  carefully  studied 
must  commend  itself  both  to  your  logical  nature  as  true — 
''  faithful,"  in  the  sense  that  it  is  worthy  of  belief — and  also 
commends  itself  to  your  heart  as  worthy  of  your  glad  accept- 
ance. And  having  thus  shown  you,  that  independent  of  any 
testimony  of  others,  this  remedy  is  reliable,  I  may  with  the 
more  confidence  refer  you  to  the  universal  testimony  in  its 
favour  of  those  who  have  made  the  actual  experiment,  which 
testimony  is  uniformly  Avith  Paul,  "  this  is  a  faithful  saying 
and  worthy  of  all  acceptation."  The  conviction  of  the 
innumerable  thousands,  living  and  dead,  who  believe  this 
gospel  to  be  of  God,  is  founded  mainly  upon  their  experience 
oftits  adaptedness  to  reheve  those  terrors  of  the  conscience, 
and  those  disorders  of  the  soul  of  which  you  know  some- 
♦  thing.-  Can  you  doubt  any  longer  when  thus  you  find 
this  remedy  attested,  at  once,  by  all  you  know  of  the 
disease  for  which  ic  provides,  from  your  own  conscious- 
ness ;  by  all  that  you  can  understand  of  the  nature  of  the 
remedy  itself,  as  so  marvellously  adapted  to  the  case ; 
and  then  by  the  universal  testimonies  of  millions  in  heaven^ 
and  on  earth,  proclaiming,  as  the  result  of  their  experience, 
^'  This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners  ?"  Nay,  if 
you  can  refuse  to  beheve  and  accept  truth  thus  attested, 
ought  not  that  fact  satisfy  you  that  the  continued  unbelief  is 
evidence  not  of  an  understanding  unconvinced,  but  of  a  heart 
"  desperately  wicked  ?" 

3.  But  perhaps  there  may  be  some  of  you  who  fully  admit 


JESUS   ACCEPTS   THE   CHIEF   OF   SINNERS.        359 

the  proof,  'dxid  acknowledge  the  saying  as  faithful,  and  would 
gladly  accept  it,  if  you  could  only  feel  sure  that  Christ  Jesus 
will  accept  such  a  sinner  as  you.  From  long  struggle  with 
the  soul  disorders  within :  from  a  deep  conviction  of  sinfulness, 
seeing  that  you  have  sinned  so  greatly,  or  against  so  much 
light,  or  in  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit ;  or  from  discourage- 
ment about  yourself,  seeing  how  often  you  have  resolved 
and  vowed,  and  yet  broken  all  solemn  vows,  this  offer  may 
indeed  be  gladly  accepted  by  others,  but  is  not  to  such  as 
you. 

I  stand  here  in  the  Master's  name,  to  say  to  you,  that  yours 
is  the  very  case  met,  and  you  are  specially  invited  to  come 
first.  "  Of  whom  I  am  chief,"  said  the  great  Apostle,  who 
had  been  the  blasphemer  and  the  persecutor.  And  tlie 
argument  is,  the  gospel  that  saved  me  will  save  anybody ;  the 
Christ  Jesus  that  accepted  me  will  accept  anybody.  And 
such  you  will  find  to  be  the  feeling  of  every  sinner,  saved  by 
grace.  Knowing  more  of  the  depths  of  sin  in  his  own  heart 
than  he  can  knoAv  of  anybody  else's  heart,  he  cries  "  I  am 
chief !''  And  so  far  as  his  knowledge  goes  he  judges  rightly. 
Hence  it  is  such  a  matter  of  amazement  to  him,  that  he  should 
have  been  snatched  as  a  brand  from  the  burning. 

Dora  Greenwell,  in  the  "  Sunday  Magazine," — in  the  talk  of 
the  poor  pitman  to  his  wife — has  expounded  this  principle 
with  exquisite  beauty  and  power.  Saith  the  poor  reckless 
pitman  :— 

I've  got  a  word  like  a  fire  in  my  heart 

That  will  not  let  me  be — 
"  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved, 

jJtid  icho  gave  himself  for  me." 

There's  none  on  earth  could  frame  such  a  tale. 

For  as  strange  as  the  tale  may  be — 
Jesus,  my  Saviour,  that  thou  shouldest  die 

For  love  of  a  man  like  me  ! 


360  APOSTOLIC   SUMMARY   OF   THE   GOSPEL. 

Why  only  think  now  if  it  had  been 

Peter,  or  blessed  Paul, 
Or  John,  who  used  to  lean  on  his  breast, 

One  couldn't  have  wondered  at  all ! 

If  He'd  loved  and  He'd  died  for  men  like  these, 

Who  loved  him  so  well — but  you  see 
It  was  me  that  Jesus  loved,  wife, 

He  gave  himself  for  mc. 

It  was  for  me  that  Jesus  died, 

For  me,  and  a  world  of  men 
Just  as  sinful  and  just  as  slow 

To  give  back  his  love  again  ; 

He  did'nt  wait  till  I  came  to  Him, 

But  he  loved  me  at  my  worst ; 
He  need'nt  ever  have  died  for  me. 

If  I  could  have  loved  him  first. 

And  could'st  thou  love  such  a  man  as  me. 

My  Saviour  !  then  I'll  take 
More  heed  to  this  wandering  soul  of  mine. 

If  it's  only  for  thy  sake  1 

Yes,  it  is  the  glorj  of  the  gospel,  that  it  is  "  able  to  save 
to  the  uttermost;"  that  it  is  a  gospel  to  save  sinners, — the 
chief  of  sinners  ;  and  that  its  trophies,  every  one  of  them  are 
living  testimonies  to  encourage  especially  the  soul  who  cries 
"I  am  chief!"  '*  You"  saith  Paul  "are  the  very  sinner  to 
come  first.  I,  the  persecutor  and  blasphemer  have  been 
accepted  that  I  might  be  a  standing  assurance  to  the  despair- 
ing !"  Yea,  and  so  Paul's  Master  before  him  had  commanded 
it  to  be  preached.  The  very  commission  which  gives  the 
Church  her  divinely  appointed  ministry,  runs — "  Preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature, — beginning  at  Jerusalem.^''  The 
divine  order  of  the  work  shall  be  the  worst  sinners  first. 
Therefore  before  going  into  all  the  world,  go  first  to  the  poor 
sinners  hardened  under  the  blaze  v  of  light  and  grieving  the 
Holy  Spirit.     Go  tell  those  who  imprecated  the  awful  curse 


JESUS   ACCEPTS    THE   CHIEF    OF    SINNERS.        CGI 

^'  His  blood  be  upon  us  r^^nd  our  children,"  that  the  blood 
if  they  will,  shall  be  upon  them  first,  as  the  blood  of  sprinkling 
to  bless,  instead  of  an  immortal  curse.  Go,  tell  the  poor, 
compromising,  cowardly  Pilate  that  the  blood  with  which  ho 
bought  his  peace  with  the  mob,  shall,  if  he  Avill,buy  his  peace 
w^ith  God  first  of  all,  and  wash  off  from  his  ofiicial  hands  that 
blood-stain  that  no  water  can  ever  wash  ofi".  Go,  tell  the  poor 
heartless  jesters,  who  jeered  at  my  agonies,  saying,  "  If  thou 
be  the  Son  of  God  come  down  from  the  cross," — that  I  have 
not  only  come  down,  but,  also,  ascended  to  my  throne,  and 
if  they  will,  my  first  act  of  royal  clemency  shall  be  their 
pardon.  Go,  tell  the  reckless  gamblers  who  played  for  my 
seamless  robe  so  eagerly,  that  they  first,  if  they  will,  may  put 
Qn  the  robes  of  my  righteousness  !  Go,  tell  the  rough  soldier 
wdio  thrust  his  spear  so  brutally  into  my  side,  that  he  may 
first  be  washed  in  the  blood,  and  first  drink  of  the  water  of 
Hfe! 

Yes  !  on  the  very  front  of  this  gospel  saying,  verifying  it  as 
God's  saying,  and  distinguishing  it  from  all  human  gospels, 
is  this  order  of  its  offer.  All  human  gospels  seek  first  the 
least  depraved — the  finer  natures,  the  morally  elevated  ; 
whereas  this  gospel  ordains  "begin  at  Jerusalem;"  take  the 
chief  of  sinners  first,  to  show  that  none  need  despair.  What 
more  do  you  want,  in  the  way  of  proof,  that  "  it  is  a  faithful 
saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation  ?" 


DISCOURSE  xvn. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  GROUND  OF  CHRISTIAN  COMFORT  AND  COURAGE, 

lioMANS  viil.  28-31. — And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called^  according  to  his 
purpose.  For  whom  he  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  first  born  among  many 
brethren.  Moreover  whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also  called  ;  and 
whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified ;  and  whom  he  justified,  them  he 
also  glorified.  What  shall  we  then  say  to  these  things  ?  If  God  be  for  us^ 
who  ci>n  be  against  us  ? 

The  Apostle  resumes  here,  in  the  twenty-eighth  verse,  the 
subject  of  the  afflictions  which  the  chihlren  of  God  are  called 
upon  to  endure  in  this  life.  And  as  then  he  had  assigned  as 
one  reason  why  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  crush  the  heart, 
that  these  "  sufferings  of  this  present  time,  are  not  Avorthy  to 
be  compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us ;" 
so  now  he  assigns,  as  a  second  reason,  that  these  sufferings 
are  the  means  of  good,  blessings  in  disguise. 

That  apparent  ills  are  often  the  means  of  good,  is  a  fact 
which  even  men  of  the  world  may  find  out  by  experience. 
The  disease  brought  on  by  sensuality  has  often  restored  a 
man  to  himself:  the  loss  by  some  daring  speculation  in 
business  has  sobered  his  rashness,  and  trained  him  to  self- 
reliance  ;  the  overthrow  of  his  schemes  of  ambition  has  been 
a  salutary  discipline  to  make  him  a  wiser  man.  But  more 
eminently,  and  more  certainly,  is  this  the  case  with  the  true 
Christian.  The  crushing  of  his  earthly  hopes  gives  him  a 
stronger  set  heavenvrard. 

The  humiliation  of  some  fall  into  sin  chastens  his  spirit. 
Even  when  death  enters  witliin  the  circle  of  his  affections,  and 


364     APOSTOLIC   GROUNDS    OF   CHRISTIAN   COMFORT. 

causes  the  deep  wailings  of  nature  to  echo  in  all  the  chambers 
of  the  soul,  he  finds  by  experience  that  the  affliction  has  been 
a  means  of  spiritual  good.  Just  as  the  trees  that  grow  on  the 
exposed  summits  and  in  the  open  fields  are  found  to  strike 
their  roots  far  deeper  down,  and  take  firmer  hold  of  the  rocks 
beneath,  than  the  trees  that  grow  in  the  shelter  of  the  forest : 
so  the  plant  of  divine  grace  in  the  soul  is  found  to  strike 
deeper  root,  and  take  faster  hold  of  the  rock  of  salvation,  by 
the  very  blasts  of  the  tempests  of  life  which  would  seem  to 
overwhelm  it.  The  calamity,  to  the  eje  of  sense  tremendous, 
works  out  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory. 
But  troubles  in  this  life  are  not  apt  to  come  alone  :  and, 
ofttimes,  one  calamity  seems  to  follow  another  as  though 
God.  in  his  anger,  were  striking  blow  after  blow.  Here  is  the 
place  at  which  true  fortitude  displays  itself.  Almost  any 
man  can  nerve  himself  for  the  single  great  shock,  especially  if 
he  sees  the  direction  in  which  the  blow  is  coming.  But  when 
called  upon,  while  staggering  under  one,  to  measure  his 
strength  with  another,  and  then  another;  or  to  stand  sur- 
.rounded  by  "a  sea  of  troubles,"  boisterous  and  raging — then 
none  but  the  greatest  souls  are  found  equal  to  the  task. 
Hence  the  Apostle  declares,  not  only  that  one  calamity  may 
result  in  good,  but  "  all  things  work  together  for  good." 
When  the  troubles  come  from  this  quarter  and  that ;  when 
troubles  from  without  come  upon  troubles  within ;  when  news 
of  evil  from  abroad  comes  in  upon  the  heart  already  breaking 
with  trouble  at  home ;  when  the  storm  rages  fiercely, — the 
winds  meeting  from  every  quarter  to  lash  the  sea  into  fury, — 
-then  must  God's  children  feel  there  is  one  at  the  helm,  that 
will  pilot  them  through  ;  one  who  has  promised — "  in  six 
iroubles  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  m  seven  will  not  forsake 
thee."  That  though  "  many  are  the  afflictions  of  the  righteous, 
yet  the  Lord  delivereth  him  out  of  them  all."  And  though 
faith  cries  out — "  deep  calleth  unto  deep  at  the  noise  of  thy 


THE  SCOFFS  AT  A  PROVIDENCE  OVER  INDIVIDUALS.  365- 

"waterspouts :  all  thy  Avavcs  and  thy  billows  arc  gone  over 
me  ;"  still  its  cry  also  is  "  in  the  night  thy  song  shall  be  with 
me."  For — "  out  of  the  depths  have  I  cried  unto  thee,'* 
and  "  in  thee  do  I  put  my  trust."  Yea,  "  though  he  slay  mo 
yet  -will  I  trust  in  him."  This  is  every  Christian's  practical, 
doctrine  of  Providence. 

It  is  surely  strange,  on  any  ordinary  principles  of  human 
reasoning,  that  a  doctrine  so  full  of  comfort,  in  a  world  so  full 
of  trouble,  should  have  to  fight  its  way  against  the  most 
determined  opposition  of  every  class  of  worldly-minded  men. 
Yet  the  opposition  to  this  doctrine  is  manifold. 

First,  that  of  the  natural  heart;  which,  in  its  dislike  to 
conceive  of  God  as  near  to  us,  in  -even  the  ordinary  affairs 
of  human  life,  takes  refuge  in  a  natural  sadduceeism,  believing 
neither  in  angel  or  spirit  as  having  any  concern,  at  least  with 
every-day  life  things,  however  God  may  concern  himself 
about  the  Sunday  services  of  his  creatures.  This  is  the 
practical  philosophy  of  the  multitudes  who  trouble  themselves 
little  about  the  grounds  and  reason  of  thai  which  suits  their 
natural  inclination.  Only  in  the  time  of  alarm  and  deep 
affliction  do  they  think  of  God  as  working  all  things. 

Secondly,  the  opposition  of  that  transcendental  atheism,, 
which  with  all  its  theoretic  drcamings  of  God  as  the  universe, 
or  the  universe  as  God,  really  leaves  the  world  without  a 
personal  God  to  care  for  it  at  all.  The  very  conception  of  an. 
infinite  personal  and  moral  Being  that  moves  and  acts  within 
the  sphere  of  humanity,  sympathizing  with  its  sorrows,  would 
dash  in  pisces  their  transcendental  structures  as  inevitably,  as 
the  acceptance  of  the  first  truths  of  inductive  science  must 
dash  in  pieces  the  cycles  and  epicycles,  and  crystal  orbs, 
of  their  visionary  predecessors  of  antiquity.  Hence  this 
*'  science,  fakely  so  called,"  not  only  cannot  accept,  but  treats 
with  passionate  scorn  the  truth,  that  God  works  all  things 
together  for  sood,  to  anv  class  of  his  human  creatures. 


'366     APOSTOLIC    GROUNDS    OF   CHRISTIAN"   COMFORT. 

So  again,  in  the  third  place,  this  truth  is  assailed  by  a 
theological  scepticism,  which,  while  it  professes  to  accept  with 
reverence  the  revealed  doctrine  of  God,  yet  cannot  reconcile 
with  its  theories  of  how  the  universe  is  governed,  and  espe- 
cially how  man  could  be  free  under  a  government,  which 
proceeds  under  a  plan  and  purpose  to  accomplish  certain 
■ends : — and  therefore  cannot  accept  this  doctrine  of  God's 
constant  interposition  in  man's  affairs.  Jeremiah  saw  the 
working  of  the  scheme  of  providence  beautifully  symbolized 
by  the  potter  at  his  wheel,  moving  with  his  foot  on  the  treadle 
his  whirling  stone,  and  wdth  his  hand  fashioning  into  shape 
the  clay  as  it  whirled ;  and  when  the  vessel  was  marred  in  his 
hand,  lumping  again  and  throwing  back  the  clay,  refined  by 
the  very  marring  process,  to  be  moulded  anew,  into  a  better 
vessel.  Both  the  philosophers  and  the  theological  sceptics 
accept  Jeremiah's  symbol  so  fa^r  as  concerns  the  wheel.  But 
.the  philosophers  will  have  it  that  the  w^heel  is  moved,  not  by 
any  intelhgent  power,  but  driven  by  some  infinite  blind 
impulse,  as  of  steam  power,  water  power,  or  magnetic  power; 
and  works  out  the  fashion  of  the  vessel  to  honour  or  to 
dishonour  under  the  eternal  laws  of  centrifugal  motion  !  The 
theological  sceptics,  however,  accept  not  only  the  potter's 
wheel,  and  the  clay  upon  it,  but  also  the  wheel  as  driven  by 
the  intelligent  motive  power  of  the  foot  on  the  treadle^  and  the 
clay  fashioned  by  an  intelligent  hand  as  it  wdiirls  ;  yet  they 
cannot'  accept  the  theory,  that  the  hand  is  working,  according 
to  a  purpose  and  pattern,  in  the  mind  of  the  potter,  and  that 
the  very  marring  of  the  clay  in  his  hand  is  made  the  means 
of  refining  and  preparing  it,  to  be  thrown  back  in  lump  and 
moulded  anew  according  to  his  pattern. 

There  is  a  fourth  form  of  this  opposition,  from  what  I  may 
call  the  sentimental  scepticism,  more  dangerous  than  any 
because  it  probably  reaches  more  minds,  and,  by  its  plausible 
air  of  reverence  and  concern  for  the  dignity  of  God,  leads 


SENTIMENTAL  CAVIL — BAD  TASTE  &  T\'ORSE  LOGIC.  3G7 

even  the  piously  disposed  astray.  This  sentimcntalism  is 
shocked  at  the  inspired  conception  of  Jeremiah  and  of  Paul ; 
and  especially  at  the  application  of  it  in  the  teachings  of 
Jesus,  that  God's  care  extends  to  the  very  humblest  of  his 
creatures,  individually :  that  he  marks  the  sparrow's  fall,  and 
numbers  the  very  hairs  of  their  heads  ;  that  God  clothes? 
feeds,  and  protects  them. 

The  sentimental  sceptics  by  no  means  deny  a  providence, 
operating  by  general  laws,  having  a  care  over  general  results, 
and  even  interposing  on  great  occasions.  But  they  regard  it 
as  the  veriest  fanaticism  to  hold,  that  each  individual  with 
his  little  sorrows  and  troubles  fixes  the  attention  of  the  great 
Ruler  of  the  universe. 

Now  this  whole  conception  of  the  sentimentalists,  with  all 
its  show  of  special  reverence  for  the  dignity  of  Providence  ;  of 
sensitive  shrinking  from  the  vulgar  conceptions  of  the  masses ; 
and  of  compassionate  concern  for  the  feeble-minded  enthu- 
siasts, who  talk  of  Providence,  "  working  all  things  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  him  " — will  be  found,  on  analysis, 
to  evince,  in  the  first  place,  bad  taste — in  the  second  place, 
worse  theology — and,  in  the  third  place,  still  worse  logic. 

Bad  in  iaste  is  this  notion  that  it  is  incongruous  to  the 
dignity  of  "  the  lofty  One  who  inhabiteth  eternity,"  to 
conceive  of  him  as  concerned  with  the  little  common-places 
of  human  life.  For  it  is  but  the  application,  in  religion,  of 
that  silly  conceit  of  vulgar  parasites,  that  it  is  preposterous 
to  expect  great  people  even  to  know  or  care  for  the  little 
troubles  of  the  obscure  and  lowdy.  Whereas  all  intelligent 
men  conceive  of  it,  as  one  of  the  marks  of  real  (-dignity  and 
greatness,  that  it  stoops,  without  any  condescending  airs  to 
sympathize  with  the  lowly.  Did  any  man  of  good  sense  and 
true  taste,  who  ever  noticed  the  case  of  Grace  Darling,  imagine 
that  the  imperial  Queen  of  Britain  compromised  the  dignity 
of  her  exalted  station  in  stooping  to  caress,  and  do  honour  to. 


368     APOSTOLIC    GROUNDS    OF   CHRISTIAN    COMFORT. 

the  fisherman's  heroic  daughter  for  her  daring  rescue  of  the 
storm-wrecked  men  ? 

It  is  among  the  very  sublimest  of  all  the  conceptions  of 
God  in  the  scriptures,  when  Jesus  argues,  ''  are  not  five 
sparrows  sold  for  two  farthings ;  jet  not  one  of  them  is 
forgotten  before  God?"  ''Fear  not,  therefore,  ye  are  of 
more  value  than  many  sparrows."  For  how  immense!}^  does 
it  add  to  our  conceptions  of  the  grandeur  of  God,  that  the 
Infinite  Mind,  which  takes  in  at  a  glance  the  illimitable  uni- 
verse, notes  distinctly,  at  the  same  time,  every  particle  of  it! 

I  have  said  it  is  worse  theology.  For  however  reverent 
seeming  and  pious  this  sentimentalism,  with  its  language  in 
the  purest  dialect  of  Canaan,  yet  for  all  practical  purposes 
of  religion,  it  really  banishes  God  from  the  universe.  Of 
what  avail,  to  creatures  such  as  we,  to  call  upon  us  to  love 
and  adore  a  Being  without  sympathy  for  our  little  sorrows, 
sitting  yonder  at  the  centre  of  the  universe  abstracted  in 
contemplating  the  outworking  of  the  laws  he  has  ordained 
for  it,  and  watching  their  results  ?  Can  the  soul  of  man  be 
drawn  toward  such  a  Being  ?  For  all  the  pij-ctical  purposes 
of  worship  this  god  is  not  a  whit  better  than  the  gods  of 
ancient  mythology.  Nay  one  could  more  readily  bow  down 
to  their  Jupiter,  Apollo,  or  Mercury,  than  to  this  abstraction, 
or  rather  personification  of  the  eternal  laws  of  nature.  For 
even  the  ancient  heathen  exhibited  their  gods  in  a  human 
form,  to  suggest  the  thought  of  some  sort  of  relation  between 
us  and  them,  that  may  draw  out  the  feelings  of  our  hearts  in 
prayer  to  them. 

The  logic  of  this  conception  of  God  is  still  worse  than  the 
taste  or  the  theology.  It  is  in  every  aspect  of  it  illogical. 
First,  as  a  scientific  statement  of  God's  relation  to  the  uni- 
verse. If  man  is  too  little  to  be  worthy  of  God's  concern 
about  his  affairs,  then  what  of  the  myriads  of  creatures  below 
man  in  the  scale  ?     As  Dr.  Chalmers  well  puts  the  case, 


SENTIMENTAL  CAVIL — DAD  TASTE  &  AVOKSE  LOGIC.  oG'J 

somewhere,  the  same  science  which  puts  iuto  our  hands  the 
telescope,  through  whlcli  we  discern  that  innumerable  w^orlds 
and  systems  of  worlds  are  co-tenants  of  infinity  with  our 
world  ;  until  our  scepticism,  as  it  gazes  cries  out,  "  What 
is  man  that  thou,  the  Ruler  of  these  myriads  of  worlds — 
shouldest  be  mindful  of  him  ?" — puts  into  our  other  hand 
the  microscope,  through  which  we  gaze  down  upon  a  uni- 
verse of  sentient  creatures,  far  below  the  reach  even  of 
unaided  human  vision,  until  we  cry  out  in  response  to  our 
doubts,  "  Why  not  man,  if  the  divine  care  so  obviously 
extends  to  all  those  myriad  races  l^elow  him  ?"  All  know- 
ledge of  nature,  from  that  of  the  hyssop  upon  the  wall  to 
the  cedar  of  Lebanon,  and  to  the  knowledge  of  suns  and 
systems,  attests  that  throughout  all  its  range,  no  marks  have 
ever  been  found  of  any  carelessness,  in  the  smallest  of  the 
works  of  the  divine  hand,  more  than  in  the  mightiest  of  them 
all.  The  structure  and  movements  of  the  ant  that  creeps 
upon  the  wall,  the  antennoe  of  the  gnat  that  floats  in  the 
evening  sunbeam,  not  less  than  the  movements  of  the  planets 
in  their  courses,  attest  the  presence  and  care  of  God. 

And  every  man  can  attest  from  his  own  history  that  it  is 
equally  bad  logic,  as  applied  to  individual  experience,  to  say 
that  God  controls  the  great  results  of  life,  but  not  its  minute 
incidents.  For  every  man  knows  how  the  grand  result  often 
so  turns  upon  some  event  of  life  intrinsically  the  most  insig- 
nificant, as  upon  a  pivot,  that  if  God  control  not  the  little 
things,  he  cannot  control  the  great  things.  The  coming  to 
a  place  a  little  too  late  ;  the  accidental  meeting  of  a  friend 
in  the  street ;  the  little  disappointment  that  prevented  the 
execution  of  some  cherished  purpose,  has  proved  to  be  the 
event  upon  which  the  whole  subsequent  life  and  character 
turned.  And  had  not  God  been  working  in  "all  things," 
he  could  not  have  brought  out  the  grand  result  which  fol- 
lowed from  them. 

Y 


i 

370     APOSTOLIC    GROUNDS    OF    CHRISTIAN   COMFORT.  i 

Every  student  of  history  knows  that  this  is  the  very  worst     ] 
logic,  as  a  statement  of  the  law  of  universal  history  under    I 
God's  providence.      Let  these   theorists  tell  us  what  they    i 
could  consider  an  event  and  a  result  great  enough  to  be 
worthy  the  interposition  of  God's  providence.     Shall  it  be 
the  discovery  of  the  telescope,  that  revolutionized  the  thought 
of  the  world  concerning  the  universe,  of  w'hich  we  form  a 
part ;  and  caused  the  "  heavens  to  tell  the  glory  of  God," 
as  they  never  told  it  to  former  ages  ?     Well,  the  event  that 
led  to  this  discovery,  we  are  told,  was  the  idleness  of  a 
spectacle-maker's  boy  engaged  in  grinding  the  glasses,  who 
instead  of  attending  to  his  work,  was  amusing  himself  with 
looking  through  two  of  the  bits  of  glass,  and  to  his  surprise 
noticed  that,  looked  at  through  two  glasses  held  at  a  certain    i 
distance  apart,  the  distant  church  steeple  seemed  to  come    | 
close  to  him !     Of  course  the  telescope  was  within  reach  of 
any  inventive  genius  then.     If  then  God  controls  the  dis- 
covery that  revolutionizes  the  thought  of  the  world,  he  must 
control  the  thoughts  and  acts  of  the  spectacle-maker's  lazy    '. 
boy !  ■  I 

Or  was  it  an  event  great  enough  to  be  worthy  the  interpo-    j 
sition  of  God's  providence,  when  one-third  of  the  civilized     ; 
world  were  led  off  into  apostasy  after  the  false  prophet  ?    ; 
Well,  history  tells  us  that  there  was  an  hour  in  the  prophet's    i 
life,  before  he  had  deceived  the  nations,  when  the  avengers    ] 
of  blood  were  in  such  hot   pursuit  that  there  seemed  no    ' 
human   probability  that   Mohammed,   in   sight  just  before 
them,  and  exhausted  with  the  race,  would  live  another  hour.    , 
But  at  a  turn  in  the  way,  seeing  a  cave  near  the  path,  he,    ! 
in  despair,  rushed  in  to  hide  himself.     The  pursuers  coming 
up  in  a  few  moments,  and  noticing  the  cave  also,  were  about 
to  examine  before  they  went  on,  but  they  observed  a  sparrow    ! 
fly  from  her  nest  in  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  a  spider's    ] 
web  in  the  arch  unbroken ;  and  concluding  that  it  would  be    ! 


WHO  LOVE  AND  MAY  TAKE   COMFORT — DEFINED.    371 

a  waste  of  time  to  search,  since,  if  Mohammed  had  gone  in, 
the  spaiTOw  would  have  hecn  frightened  off  before,  and  the 
spider's  web  broken,  thej  daslied  on,  and  Mohammed  escaped. 
See  you  not  that  if  God  would  control  this  vast  apostasy  of 
Mohammed,  he  must  also  watch  the  sparrow  as  she  builds 
her  nest,  and  the  spider  as  she  weaves  her  web  ?  Nay  the 
lesson  of  all  history  repeats  the  maxim  of  Aristotle,  "■  What 
the  pilot  is  to  the  ship,  such  is  God  to  the  universe."  There 
is  no  ground  in  any  sphere  of  human  knowledge  for  these 
clamours  against  the  Apostle's  view  of  God's  relation  to  us, 
and  his  statement,  "  All  things  work  together  for  good." 

But  not  "  for  good"  to  all,  but  to  a  peculiar  class — ^'  to 
them  that  love  God."  And  now  perhaps  some  child  of  God 
who  has  followed  our  argument  with  deep  interest  so  far,  is 
ready  to  exclaim,  "  this  is  indeed  a  comfortable  doctrine, 
but  alas  it  avails  little  to  me,  since  the  afflictions  work  together 
for  good  only  to  such  as  feel  and  know  that  they  love  God. 
If  I  could  but  know  with  certainty  that  I  love  him,  then  the 
consolation  would  be  indeed  '  a  song  in  the  night '  of  my 
affliction.  But — '  do  I  love  the  Lord  or  no  ?'  is  the  very 
question  of  questions  with  me.  I  hope  I  love  him.  I  try  to 
love  him.  I  sometimes  thought  I  did  love  him.  Yet,  at  the 
very  time  when  most  I  need  the  consolations  of  this  doctrine, 
then  am  I  least  certain  of  my  right  to  apply  it.  The  tears  of 
sorrow  so  dim  the  eye  of  faith,  that  I  cannot  see  as  before. 
The  wails  of  sorrow  in  the  heart  seem  to  silence  its  utterances 
of  loving  trust.  And  in  the  darkness  of  ray  spirit,  the  record 
of  many  a  forgotten  sin  comes  out,  as  though  memory  had 
written  it  with  phosphorescent  ink  that  made  no  trace  while 
the  sun  shone  brightly.  But  now,  when  the  darkness  comes, 
the  glaring  record  comes  out  to  arouse  the  condemning  con- 
science :  as  when  Reuben  in  his  sorrow  remembered  the  lon^i^ 
forgotten  sin,  and  cried,  '  we  are  really  guilty  concerning  our 
brother.'     And  while  all  these  causes  combine  to  make  me 


372    APOSTOLIC    GROUNDS    OF   CHRISTIAN   COMFORT. 

doubt,  I  am  in  tio  state  of  mind  to  look  down  into  the  depths 
of  my  heart,  and,  by  some  skilful  anatomy  of  the  passions  of 
it,  or  by  careful  apphcations  of  tests,  as  by  some  spiritual 
chemistry,  ascertain  the  presence  or  the  absence  of  any  love 
of  God  there.  How  then  shall  I  know  whether  the  comfort 
is  mine,  and  that  all  these  afflictions  are  working  together  for 
good  to  me  ?" 

I  answer,  not  by  any  such  search  in  the  depths  of  your 
heart,  nor  by  any  anatomy  of  the  affections,  nor  by  any  such 
spiritual  chemistry.  Observe,  the  Apostle  seems  to  anticipate 
such  a  difficulty  from  the  use  of  the  general  phrase,  "  to  them 
that  love  God  !"  and  therefore  appends,  as  in  apposition  there- 
with, the  explanatory  clause — "  to  them  who  are  the  called." 
So  that  instead  of  directing  you  to  look  down  into  the  depths 
of  your  heart,  he  directs  you  to  look  out  of  yourself  altogether, 
and  away  from  yourself.  To  listen  not  for  the  voice  from 
within,  but  listen  to  the  call  that  comes  from  without,  saying 
'•  Look  unto  me  and  be  ye  saved,  all  ye  ends  of  the  earth." 
You  test  your  spiritual  state  by  simply  referring  to  the  calls 
of  the  gospel  to  sinners,  and  its  offers  to  sinners,  and  then 
observing  how  your  heart  responds  to  that  call.  If  gladly, 
willingly, — then  "  Whosoever  will"  are  the  terms;  and  the 
doubt-generating  sins  are  provided  for.  "  Though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow."  And  if  you 
gladly  hear  that  call,  thereby  you  know  you  love  him  and  the 
consolation  is  yours. 

The  scriptural  philosophy  of  Christian  experience  is  very 
beautiful.  If  you  would  either  excite,  or  test  the  presence 
of  any  emotion  in  the  heart,  you  must  bring  before  the  under- 
standing the  truth,  which  tends  to  excite  and  call  forth  that 
emotion.  You  can  never  by  mere  act  of  your  own  will  call 
these  emotions  into  play.  Just  as  when  you  would  have  me 
love  your  friend,  and  when  out  of  regard  to  you,  I  wish  to  do 
it;  yet  I  cannot  at  your  bidding  love  whom  you  love.     But 


WHO   LOYE,    ETC. — DEFINED    BY   "  THE   CALLED,    d  /  6 

jou  tell  rae  of  his  many  noble  qualities,  and  recite  the  story 
of  his  generous  and  noble  deeds,  and  Avhlle  I  listen  to  these 
truths,  my  heart  warms  in  unison  with  yours  toward  your 
friend.  So  while  the  gospel  religion  is  a  religion  of  the  heart, 
and  lays  all  stress  on  the  affections,  it  never  assumes  that 
sinners,  by  a  mere  volition,  can  make  themselves  love  Christ, 
and  the  Spirit  and  the  Father.  But  it  tells  you  the  wonderful 
story  of  Christ's  generous  acts,  and  of  the  Spirit's  kind  mov- 
ings,  and  of  the  Father's  yearning  compassion,  that,  as  you 
listen,  the  affections  of  love  shall  be  awakened  in  the  heart. 

And  it  is  just  this  principle  of  awaking  and  nurturing  the 
Christian  affections,  through  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  that  dis- 
tinguishes the  genuine  religious  experience  from  the  current 
counterfeits  of  it  by  fanaticism  on  the  one  hand,  and  mere 
sentimentalism  on  the  other.  The  fanatic  has  his  moods  of 
religious  feeling.  But  it  is  a  self-excited  frenzy  of  the 
imagination  ;  or  he  dreams  a  dream  ;  or  he  sees  a  vision  ;  or 
he  hears  a  voice  from  the  unseen — these  are  the  excitinir 
causes ;  not  the  simple  truths  of  the  gospel  call.  So  the 
poetic  sentimentalist  has  often  his  moods  of  religious  feeling  ; 
and  no  doubt  is  sincerely  persuaded  that  the  impulses  of  his 
spirit,  under  an  excited  imagination,  are  the  true  impulses  of 
love  to  God.  As  I  remember  hearing  a  celebrated  dramatic 
actor  describe,  how  the  music  of  the  great  organ  at  Haarlem 
as  he  was  alone  in  the  cathedral,  made  him  so  pious  that  he 
fell  upon  the  floor,  and  prayed  that  God  would  let  him  die  at 
once,  while  in  a  frame  fit  to  die,  and  go  to  heaven.  This  sort 
of  religious  feehng  substitutes  music  of  the  organ,  ''  dim 
religious  light,"  impressive  ceremony,  and  the  beauty  of 
painting  and  statuary,  for  the  truths  of  the  gospel  call,  as  a 
means  of  exciting  the  affections  to  love  God.  It  conceives  of 
these  gospel  doctrines  as  simply  something  to  make  a  creed 
of,  to  swear  by  rather  than  something  to  live  in  the  daily 
heart  experiences  of  men. 


374     APOSTOLIC    GROUNDS    OF    CHRISTIAN    CO-)IFORT. 

It  is  a  farther  assurance  to  those  thus  called,  and  loving 
God,  that  God  is  working  all  things  together  for  good  to  them, 
in  that  this  call  itself,  is  '•  accordhij  to  his  |?:«'pose,"  or  pre- 
arranged plan,  under  the  movings  of  the  love  wherewith 
he  loved  them  before  the  foundation  of  the  world."  For  in 
Paul's  conception  of  it,  the  eternal  purpose,  plan  and  decree 
of  God  is  not  so  much  a  doctrine  among  many  others  of  the 
Gospel  system  as  a  point  of  view  from  which  to  contemplate 
all  the  doctrines.  All  that  God  hath  done  :  all  ho  is  doing  ; 
his  entire  work  of  creation  and  providence,  are  simply  the 
development  of  the  C0v?u.  .els  of  eternity.  And,  as  he  proceeds 
to  show,  the  golden  chain  whose  links  ri:\i  through  all  time, 
binds  all  time  and  the  eternity  that  follows  back  to  the  eter- 
nity before  time  was, 

"  For  whom  he  did  foreknow. "  You  will  observe  how 
this  "  For"  connects  all  that  follows,  as  explanatory  of  and 
ancillary  to  this  phrase  "called  according  to  his  purpose," 
in  the  twenty -eighth  verse.  Is  it  not  very  noteworthy  that 
the  theologians  who  do  fierce  battle  against  the  doctrine  of 
predestination  should  ever  choose  this  twenty-ninth  verse 
"  whom  he  did  foreknow  them  he  did  predestinate,"  as  their 
battle-ground;  though  this  is  merely  ancillary  and  an  explan- 
atory appendage  to,  "called  according  to  his  purpose"  in 
the  iwenty-eighth  verse  ?  Surely  one  would  think  that,  if  a 
battle  must  he  fought  here,  it  should  be  on  the 'chief  passage, 
and  not  on  the  mere  incidental  appendage  to  it !  That  it  is 
otherwise,  should  of  itself  excite  the  suspicion,  that  the 
difficulty  with  this  great  doctrine,  arises  not  so  much  out  of 
what  the  scripture  saith,  as  out  of  what  scientific  theology 
and  metaphysics  saith. 

"  Whom  he  did  foreknow  them  he  did  predestinate  to  he  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son''  How  did  he  foreknow 
them — in  what  sense  ?  Some  Would  tell  us,  "  whom  he  did 
foreknow  as  holy," — that  is,  '^  conformed  to  Christ's  image — 


"  THE  CALLED      FTJRTnER  ASSURED  BY  ELECTION.    375 

tliem  he  did  predestinate."  But  whatever  else  the  place  may 
mean,  it  cannot  mean  this.  For  instead  of  predestinating 
them  on  account  of  their  foreseen  conformity  to  Christ's 
image,  that  is  precisely  the  thing  they  are  predestinated  to. 
That  is  the  result  of  the  predestination,  not  the  cause  leading 
to  it.  And  just  here,  I  imagine,  lies  the  whole  trouble  which 
men  make  with  the  doctrine.  They  will  insist  on  under- 
standing it  as  meaning  that  God  predestinated  them,  passing 
over  this  life,  to  heaven  after  death,  whereas  Paul  says  he 
predestinated  them  to  be  holy  and  conformed  to  the  image 
of  Christ.  You  will  ask  me,  '•  But  does  not  the  Confession 
of  Faith  say,  ho  'predestinated  some  to  everlasting  life  !'." 
So  it  does:  and  the  objection  to  that  statement  as  differing 
from  Paul's  here,  arises  simply  from  overlooking  the  fact 
that  the  Confession,  after  its  manner,  here  uses  the  exact 
language  of  the  scriptures  for  expressing  this  conformity, 
to  the  image  of  Christ  as  Paul  hath  it.  You  Avill  observe 
that  Jesus  Christ  says,  "he  that  believeth  hath  (not 
shall  have)  everlasting  life."  That  everlasting  life  begins 
here  on  earth  when  the  sinner  is  born  again ;  and  to 
that  new  birth  he  is  predestinated,  and  as  Paul  here  says 
whom  he  did  predestinate  them  he  also  called.  For  remem- 
ber all  this  account  of  predestination  is  appended  to  explain 
more  fully  that  term  "  called,"  in  the  twenty-eighth  verse. 
So  the  Confession,  in  speaking  of  the  estate  to  which  men 
are  predestinated,  and  into  which  they  enter  here  on  earth, 
but  uses  the  precise  words  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  have  had 
occasion  heretofore  to  show  you  how  this  conception  of  the 
heaven,  or  everlasting  life,  as  beginning  here  on  earth  and 
carrying  over  death  with  it  the  sinless  elements  of  the 
humanity  on  earth,  is  the  peculiar  distinction  of  Christ's 
doctrine  of  immortality. 

But  you  will  ask  in  what  sense  then  did  he  foreknow  them  ? 
I  answer,  in  the  sense  of  the  word  "  know,"  when  the  Judge 


376      APOSTOLIC  GROUNDS  OF  CHRISTIAN  CO.AIFORT. 

shall  say  '•  Depart  from  me  I  never  knew  you" — though  in  the 
ordinary  sense  he  knows  all  men.  Or  in  the  sense  in  which 
Jehovah  said,  "  Ye  only  have  I  hnoivn  of  all  the  nations  ;" 
though  he,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  kneiv  all  nations.  As  in  one 
of  these  cases  he  means  to  say,  "  I  never  chose,"  or  "  prefer- 
red," you  as  mine,  and  in  the  other,  "I  have  preferred,"  or 
"chosen"  you,  only  of  all  nations,  so  here  the  Apostle  means, 
obviously,  to  say  whom  he  '•'fore-preferred,^^  or  "fore-chose," 
them  he  did  predestinate,  to  become  holy  and  Christ-like. 
And  as  this  predestination  is  to  the  result  of  a  call  obeyed, 
therefore  whom  he  predestinates,  them  he  also  calls  by 
his  word  and  Spirit.  So  that,  in  reality,  the  whole  ques- 
tion in  dispute  between  what  is  known  as  Calvinism,  in 
our  day, and  its  antagonists,  is  the  question,  "who  maketh 
thee  to  differ?" — a  question  on  which,however  rationalism 
that  believes  not  in  any  conversion  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
may  mock,  yet  all  true  Christians  must  substantially  agree, 
discordant  as  may  be  their  metaphysics  of  predestination. 
How  answer  you  this  question  : 

"  Whj  was  I  made  to  bear  thy  voice 
And  enter  whih  there's  room, 
While  thousands  make  a  wretched  choice, 
And  rather  starve  than  come  ?" 

If  you  answer  it  as  the  same  hymn, — 

"  'Twas  the  same  grace  that  spread  the  feast, 
That  sweetly  forced  me  in, 
Else  I  had  still  refused  to  taste, 
And  perished  in  my  sin  :" — 

Then  we  have  no  need  to  quarel  over  that  bugbear  of  modem 
cavillers  known  as  Calvinism.  Hence,  true  Christians  of  all 
names  are  found  singing  and  praying  very  much  alike,  how- 
ever wide  apart  in  their  speculations. 


NEED  OF  SUCH  A  DOCTRIXE  TO  SUSTAIN  THE  SOUL.   377 

The  evanjicUcal  Arm.^nian  siags  just  as  the  rest  of  as  • 

*'  Grace  first  conti-ivcd  the  way,  to  save  rebellious  man  ; 
And  all  the  steps  that  grace  display,  which  drew  the  wdndrous  plan. 
Grace  led  my  roving  feet  to  tread  the  heavenly  road. 
And  new  supplies  each  hour  I  meet,  Avhile  travelling  on  to  God. 
Grace  all  the  work  shall  crown,  through  everlasting  days, 
It  lays  in  heaven  the  topmost  stone,  and  well  deserves  the  praise  I" 

And  jet  when,  or  where,  did  Calvin  ever  distil  a  bluer  Cal- 
vinism than  that  ? 

Whom  God  '•  fore-chose,"  them  he  predestinated  to  be 
conformed  to  Christ,  and  in  order  to  the  accomplishment  of 
that  purpose,  he  "  calls^'  them.  Observe  now  we  have  the 
full  account  of  "  the  called  according  to  his  purpose,"  in 
the  twenty-eighth  verse.  And  now  the  Apostle  proceeds  to 
show,  how  that  image  of  Christ,  in  them,  is  brought  about. 
*^'  Whom  he  calls,  them  he  also  jurstifies."  These  sins  that 
so  darken  their  souls,  and  that  burden  conscience,  are  taken 
away  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  having  atoned  for,  and  thereby 
''  blotted  them  out."  And  the  obedience  of  the  "  Lord  our 
righteousness"  becomes  the  sinner's  obedience,  so  soon  as, 
hearing  the  call,  he  accepts  it,  and  by  faith,  is  in  '•  Christ 
Jesus,"  and  represented  both  in  his  act  of  obedience  and  of 
atonement.  And  meantime  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  has  made 
the  call  effectual,  and  imparted  the  new  life  to  the  dead  soul, 
whereby  it  puts  forth  this  living  act  of  faith,  carries  on  his 
work  of  conforming  it  more  and  more  to  the  image  of  Christ, 
until,  with  death,  the  body  of  sin  drops  off  and  the  spirit 
becomes  like  Jesus  and  sees  him  as  he  is, — Thus  '^  Whom 
he  justifies  he  also  glorifies." 

Now  we  can  sec  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  Apostle's  logic 
— sorrows  and  affliction  cannot  do  other  than  Jiood  to  them 
that  are  called  under  such  a  purpose  of  grace.  For  since 
God  hath  such  an  end  in  view  for  them,  all  thinirs  that  occur, 
however  aflflictivc  now,  must  work  together  to  that  groat  ond 


1 

378    APOSTOLIC   GROUNDS    OF   CHRISTIAN   COMFORT. 

— the  glory  which  shall  follow.     And  we  are  prepared  to  I 
accept  his  triumphant  conclusion,  "  If  God  be  for  us  who  can 
be  against  us?"  ; 

I  have  space  only  to  add,  in  conclusion,  a  few  brief  sug- 
gestions touching  the  exact  adaptation  of  this  view  of  the  : 
grand  system  of  gospel  theology,  from  the  stand-point  of  : 
God's  eternal  purpose  and  plan,  to  all  the  wants  of  the  liuman 
soul.  [ 

First,  this  is  the  only  view  of  the  gospel  system  of  theology  > 
that  can  satisfy  the  logical  rer^uirements  of  man's  intelligent  j 
faculties,  which  cannot  receive,  as  from  God,  any  system  of  ! 
truth  inconsistent  and  self-contradictory.  It  may  be  easy  to  \ 
reason  very  astutely,  about  some  one  or  other  doctrine  of  the 
gospel  system,  and  hew  and  shape  it  into  conformity  with  ' 
some  mere  human  theory ;  greatly  to  the  puzzling  of  simple-  ; 
minded  believers.  But  the  true  test  is  whether  the  point,  | 
so  hewn  and  shaped,  will  cohere  with  all  the  other  points  of  \ 
the  beautiful  system.  Just  as  the  skilful  workman  from  the  i 
great  city,  where  the  division  of  labour  gives  wonderful  , 
aptness  in  the  several  parts  of  it,  may  astonish  the  rude  work-  1 
man  of  the  forest,  by  the  almost  divine  skill  with  which  he 
can  carve  a  mantel,  or  a  pillar,  or  a  cornice  ;  while  yet  he  is-  \ 
unable  to  construct,  like  the  forester,  a  log  cabin  and  keep  '. 
its  corners  all  square  and  its  walls  perpendicular.  This  i 
survey  of  the  great  field  of  revelation  is  the  only  one  that  I 
will  close,  without  some  of  the  arts  and  tricks  of  the  incom- 
petent or  careless  surveyor,  who  cannot  make  Mi^plat  close —  i 
his  last  line  coming  out  at  his  starting  point — without  omit-  | 
ting  a  side,  or  enlarging  or  diminishing  some  line  or  some  ; 
angle.  i 

But,  in  the  second  place,  what  is  still  more  important,  is,  ; 
that  this  is  the  only  view  of  the  gospel  which  can  sustain  the  ] 
human  soul,  in  danp-er  and  affliction,  and  insuire  it  to  great  \ 
and  heroic  acts.  i 


NEED  OF  SUCn  A  DOCTRINE  TO  SUSTAIN  THE  SOUL.  370' 

For,  unsupported  by  this  consciousness  that  Oocl  is  near 
him,  and  has  a  destiny  for  him  to  work  out,  in  the  "  all  things" 
of  his  life,  man's  spirit  is  feeble.  He  cannot  be  self-reliant, 
except  as  reliant  on  a  power  above  his  power.  Hence  the 
Coesars,  the  Alexanders,  the  Napoleons  of  the  world's  history, 
have  ever  had  some  sort  of  blind  instinctive  impression  of" 
that  great  truth  which  the  faith  of  the  Pauls,  the  Luthers,  the 
Calvins,  the  Knoxes,  so  clearly  apprehended.  AVhatever 
else  they  may  have  done  for  the  human  spirit,  Arminianism 
and  Rationalism  never  yet  constructed  a  true  moral  hero.  All 
the  world's  spoken  epics,  all  the  world's  acted  heroisms,  all 
the  world's  suffered  martyrdoms,  have  had  their  roots  struck 
deep  in  this  conviction  of  Paul's,  that  "  all  things  work 
together,"  to  the  purposes  of  God. 

In  the  third  place,  and  practically  still  more  im[x>rtant 
than  meeting  either  the  logical,  or  the  heroic  necessities  of 
human  nature,  this  view  of  the  gospel  system  is  the  only  view 
which  can  meet  the  wants  of  the  soul  of  man,  in  the  hour  of 
darkness  and  deep  affliction.  Hence,  when  in  view  of  the 
controversies  among  Chrisuans,  the  wish  has  sometimes  been, 
expressed  for  some  compromise  ground  upon  which  all  God's 
people  could  unite,  I  have  ever  felt  that,  whatever  else 
might  be  yielded,  if  I  am  to  minister  in  Christ's  name,  there 
are  two  great  truths  which  I  must  cling  to  with  the  grasp  of 
despair.  One,  the  truth  of  justification  by  faith  :  so  that  as 
the  poor  dark-minded  sinner  comes  inquring,  "  What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  ?"  I  may  confidently  point  him  to  the  Lamb 
of  God,  and  say,  '•  believe  " — "  only  believe,  and  tliou  shalt 
be  saved."  The  other,  this  truth  concerning  God's  eternal 
purpose  according  to  which  he  worketh  all  things :  so  that  I 
may  comfort  his  suffering  children.  How  am  I  dumb  under  the- 
wailings  and  complaints  of  the  broken-hearted  without  Ciis  I 
How  can  I  face  this  David,  as  he  comes  wringing  his  hands,, 
and  crying  in  his  agony,  "  Oh  Absalom!  my  son!  my  son ! 


■o80    APOSTOLIC   GROUNDS   OF    CHRISTIAN   COMFORT. 

"would  Gad  I  had  died  for  thee  "?  What  can  I  say  to  this  poor 
•''  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children  and  refusing  to  be  comforted 
because  thej  are  not "  ?  How  shall  I  claim  that  my  Master 
hath  sent  me  with  a  gospel,  "  to  comfort  them  that  mourn 
and  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,"  unless  I  may  say  to 
them — "  This  affliction  cometh  not  by  chance — it  comes  as 
the  outworking  of  his  adorable  purpose,"  who  "  worketh  all 
;things  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  him  ?" 

And  not  less  essential  is  this  truth  to  sustain  the  church  in 
the  days  of  darkness  and  rebuke,  than  to  comfort  the  indi- 
vidual soul.  For  it  is  in  accordance  with  his  great  purpose, 
that  days  of  affliction  and  rebuke  shall  come  upon  his  Church 
also.  And  all  history  shows  that  however,  in  her  days  of 
sunshine  and  prosperity,  the  learned  sons  of  the  Church  may 
amuse  themselves  with  splitting  metaphysical  hairs  and  fill- 
ino;  learned  tomes,  with  their  difficulties  about  the  divine 
purpose,  yet  when  the  "  storms  of  sorrow  fall,"  then  the 
universal  heart  of  the  Church  must  fall  back  upon  this 
doctrine.  When  in  the  days  of  persecution,  the  smitten 
shepherd  must  gather  his  scattered  flock  to  feed  on  lonely 
moor,  or  in  wild  glen,  or  under  over-hanging  cliif  by  the 
sea  side,  his  thoughts  irresistibly  turn  to  this  consolation 
— "For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  are  not 
to  be  compared  Avith  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us." 

When  the  Church,  his  bride,  cries  in  her  anguish — •'  The 
Lord  hath  forgotten  me  !"  her  comfort  is  in  the  same  glorious 
assurance.  "  Behold  I  have  graven  thee  on  the  palms  of  my 
'hands"  so  that  in  stretching  forth  the  hand  to  work  I  am 
reminded  of  thee  :  and  have  care  to  "  work  all  things  together 
for  thy  good."  When  mahgnant  infidehty  shouts,  "  Chris- 
tianity is  a  failure !"  and  the  mocker  from  Seir  calleth  out 
to  her  prophet  watchman,  standing  amid  the  midnight  dark- 
iiiess  of  her  desolations — "  Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ? 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?"     Where  now  the  promises  of 


NEED  OF  SUCH  A  DOCTRINE  TO  SUSTAIN  THE  SOUL.  381 

the  "  sure  covenant  with  David  ?"  Staying  his  soul  upon 
this  great  truth  of  God's  eternal  purpose  of  love,  the  prophet, 
can  answer  back  with  heroic  faith — "  The  morning  cometh," 
ye  ministers  of  hell !  ''  the  morning  cometh" — "  and  also  the 
night"  to  you.  And  when  in  the  times  of  spiritual  decay 
and  apostasy  from  the  truth,  worldly  wisdom  and  prudence 
tempts  the  witnesses  for  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus"  with  the 
plea — forbear,  withhold  the  offensive  truth,  and  stir  not  up 
the  storm  that  must  overwhelm  the  Church  :  faith,  resting 
on  this  same  assurance  of  his  purpose  that  "  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail,"  can  calmly  say,  "  Let  the  storm  come,  it 
will  scatter  the  sear  leaves  and  dash  down  the  withered, 
branches ;  but  the  God-planted  tree  shall  only  strike  deeper 
root,  and  take  firmer  hold  upon  the  great  Rock  of  Salvation  I" 

And,  in  the  fourth  place,  however  much  vilified  as  a 
doctrine,  that  cuts  the  nerves  of  Christian  zeal  and  exertion, 
for  the  salvation  of  men,  this  is  really  the  doctrine  from 
whose  encouragements  all  Christian  zeal  must  derive  its  inspi- 
rations. For  feeling  that  he  is  "  a  co-worker  with  Cnrist," 
the  great  shepherd  seeking  lost  souls,  whose  purpose  of  love 
must  be  accomplished,  that  "  he  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul 
and  be  satisfied,"  the  Christian  then  can  go  forward,  undis- 
mayed by  all  obstacles  and  discouragements.  Observe  how 
Paul,  immediately  after  this  triumphant  demonstration,  filled 
with  burning  zeal  declares,  "  I  could  wish  myself  accursed  for 
my  brethren.  My  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel 
is  that  they  might  be  saved." 

I  may  add  in  conclusion  that  this  is  the  view  of  the  gospel, 
which  furnishes  the  strongest  ground  of  appeal  to  sinners, 
crying,  "  now  is  the  accepted  time  !  Behold  now  is  the  day 
of  salvation."  If  your  salvation  were  a  thing  within  reach  of 
your  own  unaided  power,  then  we  might  feel  less  concern  at 
seeing  you  going  on  to  the  grave  in  impenitence.  For  at  any 
moment  you  could  exert  your  power   and  secure  salvation.. 


382    APOSTOLIC    GROUNDS   OF   CHRISTIAN   COMFORT. 

But  seeing  you  helpless  and  able  to  "  work  out  jour  own 
salvation,"  only  because  it  "  is  God  that  worketh  in  you 
to  will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure," — we  are  alarmed 
to  see^you  so  heedless  of  this  call  through  obedience  to  which 
alone  you  can  obtain  the  needful  help.  0  spend  not  your 
energies,  in  trying  to  penetrate  the  dark  cloud,  that  hovers 
around  the  lofty  summit  of  this  theology,  and  shrouds  from 
mental  view  the  secret  purposes  of  God.  Behold  the  golden 
link  of  the  pendent  chain  that  gleams  here  along  the  level  of 
time — this  call  of  the  gospel.  Seize  hold  of  that,  here  and 
now,  that  you  may  be  drawn  up — justified — to  be  eternally 
crlorified ! 


DISCOURSE  XVIIl. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE  OF  lADIORTALITY  CONTRASTED  -WITH 
THAT   OF   THE   SCHOOLS. 

II  Tim.  i.  — 10. — But  is  now  made  manifest  by  the  appearing  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abolished  death,  and  hatli  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel. 

I  Coit.  XV.-22,  53,  54. — For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Clu'ist  shall 
all  be  made  alive. 

For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  ou 
immortality.  So  when  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and 
this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  be  brought  to  pas? 
the  saying  that  is  written.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory. 

I  take  the  secona  passage  cited  as  exegetic  of  the  first. 
As  the  one  declares  that  Jesus  Christ  revealed  the  doctrine 
of  immortality,  and  abolished  death — reduced  it  to  zero  in  the 
formula  expressive  of  the  soul's  existence — so  the  other 
declares  the  mode  in  which  this  immortality  is  both  secured 
and  revealed.  That  it  is  by  the  connection  of  the  race  with 
Christ  in  his  resurrection,  as  with  xVdam  in  his  death  ;  and, 
consequently,  it  is  not  merely  the  soul  that  is  immortal ;  but, 
the  power  of  death  over  the  body  being  abohshed,  "  the 
mortal  shall  put  on  immortality." 

''  Broil  gilt  life  and  immortalit)j  to  liglit  through  the  gospel.'*^ 
At  the  very  enunciation  of  this  proposition,  in  its  broad 
sense,  rises  a  many-voiced  clamour,  not  only  from  the  gospel- 
rejecting  schools  of  philosophy,  but  from  within  the  confines 
of  the  Church  itself.  "  Was  not  immortality  brought  to  light 
before  Jesus  came  ?"  asks  the  gospel  according  to  the 
classics.  "  May  not  the  doctrine  of  immortality  be  demon- 
strated independent  of  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  ?"  asks 
the  gospel  according  to  College. 


384    GOSPEL  &  CLASSICAL  DIMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

I  propose  to  examine  ])riefly :  First ^  the  grounds  on  which 
this  argument  for  immortaUty,  outside  the  gospel,  is  made  to 
rest  by  the  ancient  and  the  modern  schools.  Second^  In  con- 
trast with  this,  the  grounds  on  which  the  gospel  rests  the 
argument.  And,  Thirds  the  gospel  teaching  concerning  the 
nature  of  the  life  and  immortality. 

I. — The  notion  floats,  very  vaguely  indeed,  but  very  gene- 
rally, in  the  minds  of  our  classically  trained  young  men,  that 
Socrates  and  Plato  demonstrated,  and  Cicero,  after  them, 
expounded  so  fully  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
that  little  was  left  to  be  done  by  the  gospel  of  Jesus  on  that 
subject.  Therefore  it  seems  to  them  to  border  on  the  extra- 
vagance of  enthusiasm  that  the  Apostle  should  thus  claim 
that  Jesus  brought  immortality  to  light^  as  though  men  had 
not  heard  and  taught  the  doctrine  of  immortality  before.  But 
admitting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  Socrates  and  Plato 
had  reasoned  out,  ever  so  conclusively,  the  doctrine  of  the 
endless  existence  of  the  soul,  it  cannot  be  claimed  by  their 
most  enthusiastic  admirers  that  they  established  a  "  life  and 
immortality"  so  clearly  as  to  "  abolish  death," — that  great 
unnatural  fact — ^by  setting  before  men  hopes  so  glorious  as  to 
make  the  matter  of  the  death  of  the  body  practically  insigni- 
ficant in  their  view.  And,  in  the  next  place,  the  claim  set 
up  for  Socrates,  Plato  and  Cicero  in  this  matter  is  much 
higher  than  the  facts  actually  warrant.  Any  one,  not  content 
with  admiring  these  philosophers  on  the  basis  of  mere  second- 
hand  knowledge,  must  know  this.  Looking  at  the  facts, 
rather  than  the  poetry  of  the  matter,  it  will  be  found  that 
there  is  no  ground  for  that  excess  of  admiration  which  prefers 
Socrates  to  Jesus,  Plato  to  John,  and  Cicero  to  Paul.  For 
neither  of  these  philosophers  ever  claimed  to  have  proved 
a  practical  immortality,  which  one  should  greatly  care  for. 
Looking  into  the  logic  of  the  matter,  it  will  be  found  that 
what  they  did  undertake  to  prove,  they  rested  upon  such 


^RONG  XOTIOXS  OF  AVIIAT  THE  SC11U(JLS  HAVE  DONE  385 

grounds  as  no  intelligent  man  would  be  willing  to  rest  his 
argument  upon  in  anv  case  of  practical  importance. 

In  the  celebrated  discussion  of   this  question  in   Plato's 
Phacdo,    Socrates  in   prison  is  represented   as  resting  the 
argument,  in  chief,  on  the  three  points.     First,  the  universal 
conviction  of  mankind  that,  after  death,  the  soul  exists  in 
Hades  ;  which  argument  he  weakens  rather  than  strengthens 
by  his  suggestion  of  the  dogma  of  universal  dualism,  that 
contraries  beget  contraries — as  darkness  light,  so  death  life, 
&c.     Second,  the  dogma  that  all  knowledge  is  reminiscence, 
and  the   ideas   suggested   by  objects  of  sense   are  merely 
recalled  as  having  existed  in  the  soul  before  ;  and  therefore 
as  the  soul  existed  before  the  body,  so  it,  probably,  shall  exist 
after  it.     Third,  that  the  soul  being  uncompounded,  cannot 
be  dissolved  as  the  body  is,  and  therefore  must  continue  to 
exist.     Now,  aside  from  the  many  beautiful  suggestions  in 
the  details  of  the  argument,  it  is  very  manifest,  that,  beyond 
the  fact  of  the  general  impression  among  mankind  of  their 
immortality,  there  cannot  possibly  be  framed  an  argument  on 
such  a  platform  that  could  convince  anybody,  in  any  degree, 
beyond   the   conviction    already   felt   from   the    instinctive 
impressions  of  his  nature.     And,  indeed,  as  a  practical  proof 
Socrates  himself  did  not  seem  to  rely  upon  it ;  since  we  find 
him  saying  to  his  judges,  ''  To  die  is  one  of  two  things  :  either 
the  soul  is  annihilated,  or  it  passes  into  some  other  state. 
If  death  is  a  sleep  in  which  the  sleeper  has  no  dream,  then 
death  would  be  a  wonderful  gain.     But  if  death  is  a  removal 
to  another  state,  and  ivhat  is  said  he  true,  that  all  the  dead 
are  there,  what  greater  blessing,"  &c.     Divesting  this  classic 
gospel  of  its  romance,  thus,  it  will  be  perceived  that  even  if 
the  Apostle  in  this  saying,  "  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light,"  had  Socrates,  Plato  and  Cicero  distinctly  in  mind,  he 
had  no  call  to  vary  the  statement  in  the  least. 

It  may  bo  important,  however,  by  way  of  dispelling  the  too 


386     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMOR'TALITY  CONTRASTED. 

common  delusion  on  this  subject,  to  show  further,  not  onlj 
that  reason  unenlightened  by  revelation  did  not,  but  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  could  not,  demonstrate  an  immortaUtj 
which  could  aiford  practical  comfort  to  the  spirit  of  man  ;  a 
"  life"  as  well  as  an  immortalitj. 

If  even  it  were  granted  that  the  certainty  of  a  future 
existence  had  been  established  by  philosophy,  with  a  clearness 
greatly  in  advance  of  the  native  impressions  of  the  common 
mind,  that  would  establish  neither  a  blissful  immortality  to 
be  hoped  for  by  all,  nor  a  retribution  whose  discriminating 
award  should  secure  it  to  a  part.  Leaving  out  of  view,  for 
the  present,  every  other  element  than  that  claimed  to  have 
been  proved — the  existence  of  the  soul  after  death,  such 
existence  of  a  human  soul,  as  now  constituted,  must  be  noth- 
ing else  than  an  immortal  hell. 

Every  one  knows  the  oppressiveness  of  time  itself  to  the 
human  spirit,  when,  in  utter  vacuity  of  thought,  the  progress 
of  time,  at  every  moment,  is  distinctly  noted.  Who  that 
has  been  compelled  in  utter  listlessness  to  watch  the  move- 
ment of  the  hand  of  the  clock  dial  for  a  few  hours,  is  not 
ready  to  define  pleasure  as  that  wdiich  causes  time  to  pass 
unnoted  ?  If  the  world's  tyrants  could  control  the  move- 
ments of  the  mind  as  they  can  those  of  the  body,  herein  would 
they  have  found  a  method  of  torture  beyond  all  the  horrors 
of  rack,  and  fire  and  faggot.  They  need  only  doom  their 
victims  to. sit  for  years,  and  mentally  note  each  second  as  it 
passes.  Conceive,  then,  of  such  a  soul  on  the  threshold  of 
the  immortal  existence  which  Plato  has  demonstrated  for  it — 
mere  naked  existence — contemplating  the  eternal  prospect ! 
In  the  body  it  could  ''  kill  time,"  but  how  shall  it  kill 
eternity  ?  Devise,  if  you  can,  some  measure  of  the  progress 
of  eternity  analogous  to  our  measurement  of  time,  in  order  to 
impress  more  definitely  and  distinctly  this  point  upon  your 
mind.     To  measure  time  we  begin  with  the  movement  of  the 


A  BLESSED  IMMORTALITY  NOT  PROVEN  BY  REASON.  387 

pendulum  ])y  the  earth's  attraction  ;  next  by  the  movement  of 
the  earth  on  its  axis  ;  next  by  the  movement  of  the  earth 
in  its  orbit.  Enlarging  now  these  familiar  measures,  we  may 
conceive,  according  to  our  astronomers,  of  another  cycle, 
measured  by  the  movement  of  our  sun  with  his  system  around 
some  other  sun  in  the  remote  depths  of  space,  compared  with 
which  all  the  circuits  that  earth  has  made  since  time  bea;an 
until  time  shall  end,  are  but  as  a  point  of  time  measured  by 
hundredths  of  a  second.  And  yet  when  this  soul  shall  have 
noted  each  moment  of  all  this  cycle,  it  is,  as  compared  with 
what  is  to  come,  but  a  single  tick  of  the  pendulum,  to  be 
sixty  times  repeated,  till  a  minute  of  eternity  is  measured  ! 
Conceive,  again,  of  this  remote  sun  with  all  his  systems 
revolving  in  an  orbit  of  almost  infinite  sweep  around  some 
remoter  central  sun,  in  the  depths  of  immensity,  whose 
circuit  shall  represent  the  minutes,  and  these  minutes  to  be 
watched — every  moment  of  finite  time  in  them — to  the 
sixtieth  repetition  of  the  circuit  through  immensity  ;  and  at 
last  the  clock  of  eternity  strikes  one :  but  this  only  to  begin 
again  the  movement  and  repeat  interminably  the  same  suc- 
cession of  cycles  in  the  new  hour  again  to  be  noted  by  thi^ 
soul  still  existing.  But  the  effort  to  grasp  the  notion,  even 
by  feeblest  approximation,  is  vain.  See  you  not  that  if 
nothing  but  existence  is  demonstrated,  Plato  has  demon- 
strated only  an  eternal  burden  to  the  soul. 

But,  next,  add  to  this  element  of  existence,  in  the  inheri- 
tance of  the  soul,  the  co-existence  of  conscience  with  it  as 
another  element,  and  you  have  only  multiplied  the  horrors  an 
hundredfold.  For  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  any  soul  ever 
having  lived  here  goes  into  that  state  of  existence  pure,  and 
with  a  conscience  absolutely  clear  ;  and  the  existence  there 
must  be  consciously  under  the  eye  of  a  pure  God.  True, 
this  soul  has  existed  under  the  eye  of  a  pure  God  here,  for 
""  in  Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."     But  other 


388     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  LAIMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

objects  of  consciousness  veiled  the  sight  of  God ;  and  an  atmos- 
phere of  mercy  and  grace  here  softens  and  reflects  the  glorious 
brightness.  Well  does  the  Apostle  say,  however,  "Our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire,"  when  conceived  of  by  an  impure 
3oul,  apart  from  his  mercy  and  grace  as  manifested  in  the 
present  state.  Just  as  our  sun  is  the  glory  and  joy  of  crea- 
tion, while  shining  through  an  atmosphere  which  softens  the 
light  from  above  and  reflects  it  in  a  thousand  forms  of 
beauty :  but  the  atmosphere  removed  from  the  earth,  this 
sun  would  become  but  a  glaring  fire-spot  in  a  single  point  of 
the  heavens,  and  all  the  universe  else  as  a  pall  of  pitchy 
blackness.  So  we  must  conceive  of  an  impure  soul  removed 
from  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  the  present  state  of  long 
sufiering  and  grace,  which  reflects  the  milder  radiance  of 
God.  The  sinful  inheritors  of  that  endless  existence  must 
see  God  only  as  the  "  consuming  fire,"  in  all  the  intolerable 
brightness  of  the  sun  in  heaven  without  an  atmosphere,  in 
the  midst  of  a  universe  become  the  blackness  of  darkness  for 
ever ! 

And  as  we  now  proceed  to  add  to  these  two  elements  of 
eternal  existence  and  the  co-existence  of  a  moral  nature  in 
an  impure  soul,  the  other  element  of  the  passions  inherent  in 
the  soul  itself,  we  but  add  infinitely  at  each  step  to  the  hor- 
rors of  that  estate,  not  of  '^  life  and  immortality  "  but  of 
death  and  immortality. 

Nor  can  reason,  unaided  by  revelation  demonstrate,  from  the 
existence  of  a  general  conviction  in  mankind  of  a  retribution 
as  well  as  an  existence  in  the  future,  any  such  theory  of  retri- 
bution as  may  relieve  the  foregoing  difficulties.  For,  admit- 
ing  that  the  existence  in  a  future  state  is  certain,  and  that 
men  generally  have  an  impression  that  the  future  state  is 
retributive,  with  reference  to  character  here  ;  still,  the  two 
cannot  be  logically  connected^  on  the  theory  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  merely.     Thus,  you  argue,  "  I  feel  that  I  am 


A  BLESSED  IMMORTALITY  NOT  PROVEN  BY  REASON.  389 

not  wholly  material,  nor  to  perish  with  my  material  part,  and 
am  conscious  of  some  sort  of  capacity  for  immortal  existence.'* 
Very  well.  You  argue  further,  '*  I  am  conscious  moreover 
of  certain  moral  impressions  that  suggest  the  thought  of  re- 
wards to  virtue  in  that  future  existence  which  have  not  heen 
bestowed  here,  and  of  penalties  for  vice,  which  have  failed  to 
be  visited  here.  Very  well.  But  now  here  interposes  a 
difi5culty.  You  are  so  constituted  also  as  to  feel  that  the 
awards  of  virtue  and  vice  should  be  rendered  to  the  same 
being  who  did  the  virtuous  and  the  vicious  acts.  But  death 
coming  in  dissolves  this  compound  being  who  committed  the 
acts,  by  strij^ping  the  mortal  from  the  immortal,  and  sends 
the  immortal  part  a  purely  spiritual,  and  therefore  a  different 
order  of  being,  to  stand  at  the  bar  and  receive  the  award. 
So  that  the  being  that  receives  the  reward  is  not  even  the 
same  order  of  being  that  did  the  virtuous  act :  nor  is  the 
being  on  whom  is  visited  the  penalty  of  vice  the  same  order 
of  being  as  he  who  did  the  sin.  Without  some  other  fact  to 
constitute  a  nexus  between  the  idea  of  a  future  state  and  the 
idea  of  retribution,  no  skill  of  philosophy  can  bridge  this 
chasm  in  the  logic.  And  the  discovery  of  such  a  chasm 
must  naturally  lead  to  the  suspicion  that  the  previous  con- 
ceptions have  been  mistakes,  mere  dreams  of  the  fancy. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  moreover,  the  utmost  extent  of  the 
argument  of  the  classic  philosophy  is  to  prove  that  the  soul 
onay  exist,  because  it  has  a  capacity  for  endless  existence. 
But  this  is  very  far  from  proving  that  it  shall  exist. 
Socrates  argued  that  the  soul  is  uncompounded,  and,  there- 
fore, dissolves  not  as  the  body,  and  may  continue  to  exist. 
But  while  the  soul  is  an  uncompounded  existence,  it  is  yet  a 
dependent  existence,  and  therefore,  if  God  please,  may  cease 
to  exist.  God  need  only  stop  the  out-goings  of  life  from 
himself,  and  in  a  moment  he  would  be  alone  in  the  universe. 
It  is  therefore   possible  that   the   human   spirit   should  be 


390     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

c[uenchabl'j.  iVnd  when  we  take  into  the  account  that  it  is 
an  impure  spirit,  and  Godless,  the  possibihtj,  apart  from  the 
revelation  of  Jesus,  becomes  even  a  probabihtj.  For,  seeing 
how  the  impure,  reckless  and  depraved  must  be  excladed 
from  the  purer  society  here,  and  remembering  that  the  con- 
sequences of  contagion  there,  in  the  presence  of  God,  where 
the  slightest  taint  of  impurity  must  sluice  the  fountain  of  life 
and  hoist  the  flood-gates  of  horror  and  pollution.^  does  not  the 
probability  seem  to  be  all  on  the  side  of  the  siiggestion  that 
Gt)d  should  quench  such  spirits  as  a  protection  to  his  moral 
universe  ? 

The  assumption,  therefore,  that  the  classic  philosophy 
either  did  estal^hsh  or  could  estabhsh  the  doctrino  of  immor- 
tality upon  any  satisfactory  basis,  is  purely  a  delusion.  Ifc 
neither  demonstrated  the  certainty  of  a  future  existence 
against  the  contrary  probabilities,  so  as  to  add  in  any  degree 
to  the  strength  of  the  popular  convictions  ;  nor  did  anything 
to  .satisfy  the  popular  curiosity  concerning  the  retributive 
character  of  the  future  state  ;  nor,  even  if  it  had  done  both, 
could,  it  possibly  have  demonstrated  a  blissful  immortality, 
but  oiily  an  immortal  hell. 

It  is,jjerliaps,  a  matter  of  still  mor^  practical  importance 
to  examine  into  the  claim  of  what  I  have  called  the  gospel 
according  to  college,  to  be  able  to  establish  so  clearly  the 
doctrine  of  immortahty,  as  to  render  the  tea<3hing3  of  Jesus 
on  that  subject  unnecessary-  Perhaps,  in  regard  to  no  other 
article  of  the  Glu*istian  faith,  does  there  prevail,  among  the 
more  intelligent  class  of  the  people,  so  vague  and  obscure 
notions,  as  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  Christian  teachings  on 
the  subject  of  immortality,  and  their  relation  to  the  teacliings 
of  natural  religion  on  fehe  same  subject.  This  arises,  in  large 
part,  from  the  confused  and  inadequate  notions  of  the  doctrme 
picked  up  in  the  schools — all^  well  enough  in  themselve? 
perhaps — which  arc  unconsciously  substituted  for  the  teach 


A.  BLESSED  IMMORTALITY  NOT  TROVEX  BY  REASON.  301 

mgs  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  concerning  immortality.  The 
question  ha\ing  been  discussed  by  the  thinkers  of  all  ages, 
and  a  favourite  subject  of  thought  and  speech  among  the 
people,  as  well  as  among  the  learned,  these  reasonings  of  the 
leaders  of  human  thought,  gathered  out  of  the  books  of  the 
schools,  become  the  groundwork  of  the  popular  faith  instead 
of  the  Gospel.  And  most  dangerous  is  the  delusion,  which 
prcvails  extensively,  that  the  Gospel  did  not  so  much  origin- 
ally reveal  to  men  the  doctrine  of  a  future  estate,  as  improve 
upon  the  discoveries  of  natural  reason  ,  and  that  the  improve 
ment  consisted  chiefly  in  a  more  effective  mode  of  presenting 
the  doctrine  to  the  masses,  and,  perhaps,  adding  a  little  to 
the  force  of  the  argument  of  the  learned  professor  in  the 
lecture  room.  The  prevalence  of  this  notion  in  the  popular 
mind,  opens  the  way  for  that  singularly  treacherous  infidelity 
of  our  age,  which  instead  of  vv^aging  the  open  warfare  of  the 
infidelity  of  the  last  century,  steals  into  the  Churcli  itself,  in 
learned  looking  toga,  solemn  looking  gown  and  ])auds.  Epis- 
copal lawn  and  sleeves,  or  sanctimonious  white  cravat,  to 
undermine,  by  its  various  arts,  the  foundations  of  the 
popular  faith.  First,  it  proposes  merely  to  relieve  the  gos- 
pel  of  some  of  the  difficulties  which  a  narrow-minded  era  of 
interpretation  has  put  upon  it ;  next,  to  fashion  its  interpre- 
tation to  meet  the  demand  from  the  "  advanced  thouoiht  " 
above,  or  from  the  Jacobinical  pliilanthropism  of  popular 
opinion  below ;  and,  next,  to  find  a  higher,  more  spiritual, 
and  less  external  gospel,  outside  the  gospel  of  Jesus  alto- 
gether, fomided  upon  the  nature  of  man.  The  masses,  even 
of  Christian  people,  under  the  illusion  that  on  many  topics  of 
religion,  especially  this  of  the  future  state,  natural  religion 
has  a  sort  of  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  gospel  of  Jesus, 
are  captivated  Avith  the  idea  of  a  more  philosophical  religion 
which  shall  catch  all  the  learned  and  great  men  '-with  guile  ;'' 
and  discover  not  the  cheat,  save  as  some  poor  earnest  soul. 


392     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

sorrow-stricken,  and  with  guilty  conscience,  attempts  to  find 
a  Saviour  in  the  New  Evangel ;  but  comes  back  wailing, 
"  They  have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where 
they  have  laid  him." 

Now  a  very  simple  analysis  and  classification  of  the  facts 
and  arguments,  on  this  subject,  which  lie  within  the  compass 
of  reason  and  natural  religion,  must  satisfy  any  intelligent 
man  that,  whatever  else  there  may  be  in  them,  there  is 
nothing  upon  which  he  can  rest  a  practical  faith  in  immor- 
tahty  ;  and  that  he  needs,  just  as  much  as  though  the  phil- 
osophers had  never  reasoned,  the  revelation  from  Jesus  of  life 
and  immortahty. 

Beyond  all  doubt  it  is  true  that  mankind,  as  a  mass,  have 
vindicated  for  themselves  the  claim  to  some  sort  of  existence 
beyond  the  life  that  now  is.  The  learned  and  the  unlearned 
alike,  in  all  ages,  have  agreed  on  the  main  question,  however 
they  may  have  differed  in  the  detail,  and  in  the  clearness 
of  their  utterance  on  the  subject.  As  widely  as  modern 
travel  has  investigated  human  opinion  under  every  clime ; 
as  far  as  recorded  history  and  tradition  carry  us  ;  and  even 
so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  interpret  the  mysterious 
records  of  the  earliest  civilizations  of  the  earth,  on  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Nile,  we  find  traces  of  the  conviction 
that,  somehow,  and  in  some  form,  the  human  soul  exists 
beyond  the  present  earthly  state.  The  mysterious  oracles  of 
the  priests,  directing  the  popular  religious  convictions :  the 
strains  of  the  poets  that  give  utterance  to  the  popular  con- 
ceptions ;  the  grave  words  of  the  greatest  and  best  of  the 
leaders  and  heroes  of  the  people ;  and  the  profoundest 
speculations  of  the  philosophers  seem  here  all  to  unite  in 
their  testimony. 

And,  so  far  as  it  goes,  this  testimony  is  concurrent  mth 
that  of  the  "  Holy  men  of  old,  who  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."     To  a  certain  extent  Confucius 


TUB  FACTS  AND  WHAT  TRUE  PHILOSOPHY  TEACHES.  393 

and  Zoroaster  are  here  at  one  -with  Moses  ;  'Pythagoras  at  one 
with  Solomon ;  IlesiocI  and  Homer,  with  David  and  Isaiah  ; 
Socrates,  with  Jesus;  Plato,  with  John  ;  Cicero,  with  Paul. 
And  so  in  all  succeding  ages.  The  creed  of  the  barbarous 
Goth  and  Visigoth,  touching  the  fact  of  a  future  existence, 
was  at  one  with  that  of  his  victim  the  semi-christianized, 
effeminate  Italian ;  the  creed  of  the  Moslem  "with  that  of  the 
antagonist  Spaniard  ;  the  creed  of  the  Buddhist  with  that  of 
his  conqueror,  the  Briton. 

But  when  we  proceed  now  to  enquire  for  the  origin  of  this 
singularly  universal  conviction,  it  will  be  found  that,  contrary 
to  the  current  vague  notions  of  the  subject,  it  cannot  be 
traced  either  to  any  suggestions  of  external  nature,  or  to  the 
arsruments  of  the  learned  thinkers  of  the  world.  It  is  not 
from  external  nature,  for  all  her  analogies,  instead  of  hinting 
an  everlasting  life,  suggest  decay,  dissolution  and  death. 
All  life,  from  the  lowest  form  of  vegetable,  up  to  the  highest 
forms  of  animal  life,  is  seen  to  be  quenched,  and  its  physical 
organisms  are  dissolved,  returning  to  the  inanimate  dust. 
Nor  does  the  highest  intellectual  and  moral  life  avail  to  lift 
its  possessor  above  the  doom  of  the  meanest  reptile  that 
creeps  upon  the  earth.  It  is  not,  therefore,  in  accordance 
with  the  analogies  of  external  nature,  but  rather  in  spite  of 
them,  that  humanity  is  possessed  of  this  ineradicable  convic. 
tion  that  its  inner  life  shall  not  die. 

Nor  is  this  general  conviction  the  result  of  faith  in  the 
reasonings  and  conclusions  of  the  few  profound  minds  that 
lead  the  thought  of  the  people.  For  when  these  leaders 
have  had  occasion  to  reason  of  the  matter,  it  has  not  been  in 
the  way  of  original  suggestion  or  of  positive  argument,  but 
rather  in  the  way  of  critical  and  polemic  argument — based 
upon  the  general  convictions  of  mankind — against  the  excep- 
tional, eccentric,  sceptical  minds  who  have  pretended  to 
dissent  from  the  general  belief. 


394     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

Nor  can  this  general  conviction  have  originated  among 
people  unenlightened  by  revelation,  in  any  tradition  derived 
from  the  recorded  revelation  of  God.  For  it  will  be  found 
that  the  inspired  writers,  no  more  than  the  philosophers  of  hea- 
thenism and  natural  religion,  undertook  to  demonstrate,  as  a 
new  truth,  the  doctrine  of  immortality  to  the  masses.  Like 
the  philosophers,  they  everywhere  assume  the  prevalence  of 
such  a  conviction  in  the  human  soul.  And  it  is  one  of  the 
very  purposes  of  this  revelation  from  Heaven  to  expound  for 
men  this  paradox  of  his  nature,  how  he,  a  mortal,  should  have 
these  instincts  and  impulses  of  an  immortal  nature  within  him. 

This  is,  probably,  the  true  statement  of  the  case,  philoso- 
phically considered, — that  the  tendencies  to  such  a  belief  in 
an  immortal  existence  grow  out  of  the  very  structure  of  the 
soul  itself;  or  from  some  original  instincts  imbedded  in  its 
very  constitution.  Just  as  the  geologists  tell  us  of  the  traces 
of  the  forms  of  organized  life — ferns — trees — reptiles — ani- 
mals, which  must  have  existed  anterior  to  the  rock  itself,  and 
have  been  imbedded  in  it  in  the  process  of  its  formation.  So 
there  are  found  in  the  depths  of  man's  spiritual  nature,  these 
intuitions,  as  traces  of  another  life,  in  another  era  than  the 
present,  which  at  once  suggest  to  the  soul  these  mysterious 
hints  of  another  phase  of  existence  than  this ;  and  would 
seem  logically  to  suggest  to  the  theologian,  as  the  material 
l^henomena  suggest  to  the  geologist,  the  idea  of  some  great 
convulsion  which  has  wrecked  an  anterior  phase  of  life. 

In  addition  to  such  intuitions  and  impressions  derived  from 
the  original  law  of  his  nature,  the  logical  processes  of  the 
human  mind  tend  to  develop  and  strengthen  these  impressions, 
in  spite  of  the  analogies  of  external  nature  which  suggest  the 
contrary.  For  man  soon  learns  to  differentiate  himself,  the 
thinking  personal  being,  from  the  mere  physical  nature  with 
which  he  is  connected.  And  once  he  learns  to  make  the 
inference,  ''  I  think,  therefore  I  am  not  the  dead  matter  nor 


THE  FACTS  AND  WHAT  TRUE  PHILOSOPHY  TEACHES.  305 

the  mere  physical  existence,"  he  finds  it  no  difficult  logical 
leap  to  the  other  inference,  "  As  I  think  and  therefore  I  am, 
aside  from  the  material  nature,  so  I  may  continue  to  think 
when  the  material  organism  is  dissolved,  and  therefore  I  shall 
continue  to  be."  For  nothing  is  more  natural  than  that  man, 
conccivinii;  of  himself  as  a  self-conscious  bein^,  thinkinii;,  feel- 
ing,  and  ^Yilling  apart  from  the  unconscious  matter,  should 
conceive  also  of  the  notion  that  his  existence  is  that  of  a  per- 
petually self-conscious  being  whose  life  dissolves  not  with  the 
physical  organism  which  it  animates. 

Now  on  the  back  of  this  comes  the  fact  of  a  mysterious 
moral  nature  in  man,  perpetually  referring  his  feelings,  words 
and  acts  to  a  God  above  him  ;  thereby  leading  to  the  sugges- 
tion of  some  power  from  without,  moving  upon  him  as  subject 
to  it,  and  causing  him  to  anticipate  not  merely  a  perpetual 
existence,  but  an  existence  retributive  in  its  nature  in  reference 
to  the  present.  But  how  these  two  conceptions  of  existence 
and  retribution  are  to  be  connected,  so  as  to  make  the  retri- 
bution upon  the  purely  spiritual  creature  a  just  recompense 
of  reward  for  sin  done  by  the  compound  existence  of  a  differ- 
ent order  of  being,  reason  alone  has  no  means  of  determiiiing. 

Such  in  general  are  the  sources  of  argument  and  the 
reasonings  to  which  a  true  philosophy  would  trace  this 
general  conviction  of  an  endless  existence.  And  on  such 
grounds  as  these  true  philosophy  must  reject  not  only  the 
coarse  materialism  of  the  atheist,  but  also  the  wild  dreams  of 
the  pantheist  concerning  the  absorption  of  the  soul  in  the 
great  soul  of  the  universe  ;  as  a  mere  disguised,  poetic  form 
of  the  atheism  which  holds  the  annihilation  of  the  soul. 
Manifestly,  the  claim  of  our  modern  pantheists  to  have  both 
believed  and  proved  the  soul  to  be  deathless  is  a  miserable 
sham.  For  what  else  than  practical  annihilation  is  it  when 
the  self-conscious,  thinking,  willing,  individual  being  is  dis- 
solved as  a  personality  and  merged  into  the  soul  of  the  uni- 


396     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

Terse  ?  On  the  pantheistic  principle  it  might  just  as  readily 
be  proved  that  the  body  is  quite  as  immortal  as  the  soul.  For 
the  body  does  not  die  in  the  sense  of  annihilation  ;  it  is  dis- 
solved merely,  and  merged  in  the  matter  of  the  universe, 
out  of  which  it  was  fashioned  at  first.  And  if  it  is  not  the 
death  of  the  spirit  when  it  ceases  to  be  an  individual  spirit 
and  merges  into  the  one  great  soul  of  the  universe,  why  is  it 
any  more  a  death  of  the  individual  body  when  it  dissolves 
:  and  merges  in  the  universe  of  matter  ? 

But  while,  on  grounds  of  reason  and  natural  religion,  the 
atheist  and  pantheist  may  indeed  be  effectually  silenced,  yet 
we  must  remember  that  it  is  one  thing  to  show  what  is  not 
the  truth,  and  altogether  another  thing  to  declare  and  estab- 
lish practical  truths  on"  which  men  may  confidently  rest  any 
important  interest.  For  any  such  purpose  this  college  gospel 
is  as  utterly  useless  as  the  classic  gospel  before  considered. 
Nor  is  the  professor  in  the  lecture  room,  in  any  true  sense,  or 
in  any  degree,  a  co-ordinate  teacher  of  immortality  with  the 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ. 

II.  You  are  now  ready  to  ask — "  What  then  has  the  gos- 
pel done  for  the  doctrine  of  immortality, — if  it  have  neither 
originally  demonstrated  it,  nor  yet  confirmed  and  enlarged 
the  teaching  of  philosophy  concerning  it  ?  Much  every  way. 
Nay,  I  will  say,  all^  every  way ;  but,  chief  of  all,  in  enun- 
ciating, and  practically  demonstrating,  this  truth,  that  not 
merely  the  spirit  of  man  shall  live  beyond  the  present  life, 
but  that  the  ''  mortal  must  put  on  immortality,"  also.  For 
you  will  perceive  that,  in  the  Apostle's  argument  extending 
through  this  fifteenth  chapter  of  Corinthians,  and  of  which 
these  words  form  the  triumphant  conclusion,  we  have  a  full 
-and  elaborate  exposition  of  all  these  mysterious  and  other- 
wise paradoxical  intuitions  of  humanity. 

The  substance  of  the  Apostle's  exposition  is  this:  That 
'though  the  creature  man, — a  compound  being,  the  junction 


WHAT    THF    GOSPEL   RESURRECTION    PROVES.      397 

of  angel  and  animal  in  the  same  bein;:; — was  constructed 
upon  a  platform  of  endless  existence  for  the  compound 
nature  ;  yat,  since  the  original  nature  was  constituted,  a 
huge  moral  convulsion  has  transpired  wrecking  the  ori<^inal 
order  of  life.  "  In  Adam  all  die  ;"  for  as  the  head  of  this 
new  order  of  being  he  represented  the  whole  order.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  this  death  has  not  been  fully  accepted  as 
the  final  condition  of  the  creature  ;  for,  immediately  upon  the 
wreck,  a  mediator  Christ  interposed,  and  hath  undertaken  to 
restore  out  of  the  race  a  body  of  people  for  himself;  and,  to 
that  end,  connected  himself  with  it,  as  a  second  head  to  re- 
deem. "  As,"  therefore,  '^  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  all 
are  made  alive."  As  by  the  relation  to  the  first  head, 
Adam,  every  creature  that  is  born,  is  born  to  die,  under  the 
sentence  of  the  curse  ;  so,  by  virtue  of  the  relation  to  the 
second  head,  Christ,  every  creature  that  dies,  must  die  to  rise 
again.  And  rise  again,  not  a  different  order  of  being — pure 
spirit — but  rise  the  same  compound  order  of  being  physical 
and  spiritual  as  originally  made.  Hence  the  separation  of 
the  physical  from  the  spiritual  at  death,  is  but  a  mere 
incident  of  the  creature's  existence  :  a  mere  temporary  sus- 
pension of  the  bodily  functions  to  the  spirit,  analogous  some- 
what to  the  suspension  of  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
functions  to  the  physical  nature  during  infancy.  Tlie  sum. 
total  of  the  eternal  existence  shall  be  according  to  the  ori- 
ginal type,  both  physical  and  spiritual,  a  compound  nature  ; 
the  death  is  a  mere  incident,  and  its  period  reduces  to  zeroy 
— a  not  assignable  quantity  in  the  formula  expressive  of  the 
whole  existence.  It  is  practically  "  abolished,"  therefore,  in 
the  gospel  theory. 

"  In  Christ  all  are  made  alive."  The  gospel  theory,  as 
stated  by  the  Apostle  in  this  argument,  is  that,  besides  the 
peculiar  special  relation  in  which  Christ  stands  to  that  part  of 
the  race  which  is  actually  redeemed  and  restored  by  him,  he 


398     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

stands  also  in  a  very  important  relation  to  the  whole  humanity 
whose   nature  he  assumed.     In  dying  and  rising  again  he 
stood,  in  an  important  sense,  as  representative  of  the  race, 
while,  in  a  special  sense,  he  stood  as  the  representative  of  his 
redeemed  people.     As  every  one  born  of  Adam  is  born  to  die, 
because  concerned  ia  the  disobedience  of  Adam,  the  repre- 
sentative head  ;  so,  also,  because  concerned  in  the  obedience 
of  Christ  the  representative  head  of  humanity,  every  one  that 
■dies,  must  die  to  rise  again.     There  is  no  need  of  any  cautious 
limitations  of  such  universals  as  this — "  So  in  Christ  all  are 
made  alive,"  or  of  the  Apostle's  other  saying,  that  Christ,  "by 
the  grace  of  God  tasted  death  for  every  man," — in  order  to 
make  them  harmonize  with  such  other  declarations  as,  in 
accordance  with  obvious  facts,  represent  Christ  as  dying  for 
his  elect  people  ;  and  that  only  a  part  of  the  race  are  actually 
redeemed.     For  besides  the  link  that  connects  Christ  specially 
with  his  people  to  secure  their  salvation,  there  is  also  a  link 
which  connects  him  with  the  race  at  large,  so  as  to  secure 
such  movement  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  fallen  nature 
generally  as  to  keep  ahve  the  religious  consciousness,  and 
prevent  the  race  from  sinking  into  a  mere  brutish  and  devilish 
animalism  under  its  subjection  to  Satan  ;  and  so  as  to  secure 
also   the  resurrection  of  all  who  die,  to   be  reconstituted 
the  compound  nature  in  which  man  was  originally  created. 
In  a  most  important  sense,  therefore,  the  saying  is  true  to  the 
■widest  and  most  absolute  extent, — that  "  Jesus  tasted  death 
for  every  man ;"  and  that  "•  in  Christ  all  are  made  alive."    His 
resurrection  was  the  resurrection  of  our  nature,  in  so  far  that 
it  becomes  a  law  of  the  nature  that  it  cannot  remain  under 
the  power  of  death.     It  is  not  by  an  essential  law  of  the 
nature,  in  the  sense  of  natural  religionism,  that   we    are 
immortal  and  cannot  cease  to  exist ;  but  because,  by  virtue 
of  our  relation  to  Christ,  we  are  ponstituted  immortal  both  as 
to  soul  and  body.     And  if  there  never  had  been  one  sinner 


THE  GOSPEL  SOLVES  THE  PUZZLE  OF  PniLOSOPHY.  300 

-who  would  accept  his  mediation ;  if  the  earth  never  had  con- 
tained any  but  rejectors  of  Christ,  scoffers  and  infidels  ;  still, 
by  virtue  of  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  resurrection  of  all 
would  have  been  secured,  though  the  salvation  of  none  had 
been  secured.  The  despisers  of  his  grace,  because  they  share 
the  nature  with  him,  shall  rise  with  him,  and  have  an  imperish- 
able existence  though  it  be  rising  to  shame  and  everlasting 
contempt.  As  the  untold  myriads  of  the  race  were  repre- 
sented in  the  act  of  his  rising  from  the  dead,  therefore  the 
earth  must  give  up  its  dead,  and  the  sea  the  dead  that  are  in 
it,  and  they  shall  join  him  risen  to  be  judged  and  ruled  by 
him.  Thus  the  Apostolic  argument  finds  the  basis  of  an 
f  immortality,  not  as  in  the  inherent  nature  of  the  soul  itself, 
which  is  a  dependent  existence,  and  therefore  if  God  please 
may  terminate,  but  in  the  connection  of  the  race  with  a 
Redeemer  who  has  secured  the  immortality  not  only  of  the 
soul  but  of  the  whole  compound  nature — physical  as  well  as 
spiritual. 

You  will  perceive  at  a  glance  how  such  a  theory  of 
immortality  furnishes  the  clue  to  all  those  puzzles  which  the 
classical  and  the  college  gospels  find  too  hard  for  them. 

We  can  understand  now  why  these  original  intuitions  of 
immortality  are  found  imbedded  in  the  nature  of  man  as  the 
geologist  finds  the  traces  of  a  primeval  life  in  the  rocks.  The 
nature  as  originally  constructed  has  been  convulsed,  upheaved, 
— "  In  Adam  all  died."  And  as  the  physical  life  now  upon 
the  earth's  surface  is  nourished  from  the  grave  of  an  anterior 
life  whose  traces  are  still  found,  so  this  inspired  science  tells 
us  that  the  spiritual  life  which  now  exists  is  nourished  as  it 
were,  from  the  grave  of  an  anterior  spiritual  life  which  this 
moral  convulsion  heaved  into  chaos. 

This  gospel  theory  expounds  also  the  meaning  of  those 
impressions,  ineradicable  from  his  nature,  of  a  future  existence, 
as  though  an  intrinsic  necessity  of  such  a  nature,  while  at  the 


400     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

same  time  reason  must  argue  that,  as  a  dependent  existence, 
the  life  is  quenchable,  and,  as  a  sinful  soul,  the  probabilities 
are  that  God  will  quench  out  its  life  as  a  safeguard  to  the 
purity  of  his  universe.  When  man  has  carried  himself  thus 
by  his  native  impressions  to  the  verge  of  eternity,  and  there  is 
met  with  the  sceptical  doubts  of  reason,  and  stands  shivering 
in  turn  at  the  prospect,  not  knowing  whether  he  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  spring  forward,  as  his  impulses  would  lead  him,  in 
the  flight  through  immensity,  or  whether,  on  account  of  his  sin, 
and  as  a  just  doom,  he  shall  be  blotted  out  of  existence  ;  just 
then  this  gospel  of  life  and  immortality  comes  to  announce  to 
him,  from  the  Father  of  Spirits,  that,  by  covenant  with  the 
Mediator  representing  humanity,  the  irrevocable  decree  of 
God  is  that  the  spark  kindled  by  the  breath  of  life  breathed 
into  him  shall  never  go  out  nor  wax  dim.  Therefore  these 
intuitions  of  immortality  and  the  hopes  founded  upon  them  are 
just,  notwithstanding  the  doubts  of  reason  to  the  contrary. 

So,  again,  with  the  difficulty  in  connecting  and  reconciling 
the  intuitions  of  future  existence  and  the  co-existing  impres- 
sions of  the  moral  nature  concerning  a  retribution,  while, 
according  to  reason,  the  retribution  would  seem  to  be  visited, 
contrary  to  the  natural  sense  of  justice,  upon  another  being 
purely  spiritual  for  the  sins  done  by  a  being  of  diflferent  order, 
a  compound  being  with  both  soul  and  body.  This  gospel 
doctrine  again  confirms  the  correctness  of  both  the  intuitive 
impressions  against  the  doubts  of  reason ;  and  harmonises  all 
by  revealing  that  it  is  the  mortal  which  puts  on  immortality, 
and  therefore  the  same  being — the  compound  being  that  did 
the  sin  here — shall  receive  the  retribution  there. 

This  gospel  is  needed  therefore,  if  for  notliing  else,  to 
expound  to  humanity  the  paradoxes  of  its  nature  which  philo- 
sophy could  not  expound.  And  herein  you  have  but  another 
illustration  of  the  fact  that  a  .revelation  from  heaven  was 
needed,  not  only  to  explain  the  mystery  of  God,  but  also  the 


THE  GOSPEL  SOLVES  THE  PUZZLE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.    401 

mysteries  of  Avhicli  man  finds  his  nature  so  full.  That  the 
bible  mui?t  be  the  most  human  of  books  as  -well  as  a  divine 
book  ;  and  furnish  an  articulate  utterance  for  these  strange, 
confused  instincts  of  the  spiritual  nature.  Not  without  reason, 
therefore,  does  Jesus  make  this  the  grand  practical  evidence 
of  the  divinity  of  his  gospel,  that  it  comes  as  bread  of  life 
exactly  suited  to  feed  their  hunger,  and  as  a  water  of  life  to 
quench  the  thirst  of  the  soul. 

But,  that  it  thus  expounds  the  cause  and  nature  of  these 
impressions  of  a  future  state,  is  very  far  from  being  all  or  even 
the  chief  of  what  the  gospel  does  for  the  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality. All  this  is  but  the  preliminary  preparation,  and  lay- 
ing the  foundation  for  teaching  the  true  theory  and  functions 
of  immortality.  The  key  to  the  whole  gospel  theory  lies  just 
in  this  proposition  enunciated  by  the  Apostle, — "  this  'i aortal 
must  put  on  immortality."  The  prominent  features  of  this 
gospel  theory  founded  upon  this  fact,  are  set  forth  in  these 
propositions : 

First,  that  the  immortality  of  our  nature  rests  not  so  much 
upon  the  intrinsic  nature  of  the  soul  itself,  as  upon  the  office 
work  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Mediator,  for  the  race  and  the 
Redeemer  of  his  elect ; 

Second,  that  this  immortality,  as  to  its  nature,  consists  in  the 
restoration  of  the  humanity  to  its  original  type  at  creation,  a 
compound  nature  by  reason  of  the  junction  of  the  physical 
and  the  spiritual  in  the  same  being. 

Third,  that  the  mode  of  this  existence  is  exhibited  to  us 
as  an  actual  fact  by  the  riaode  of  the  existence  of  Jesus  after 
his  resurrection — he  being  the  ''  first  fruits  of  them  that 
slept." 

Fourth,  that  therefore  the  redemption  by  Christ  includes 
the  restoration  of  the  physical  nature  of  all  that  die — a 
*'  spiritual  body"  springing  from  the  natural  body  as  its 
germinal  seed — as  well  as  the  restoration  of  the  spiritual 

AA 


402     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

nature  of  those  that  are  saved,  bj  perfecting  the  growth  of 
the  "  everlasting  life"  implanted  in  the  soul  here. 

Fifth,  that  therefore  the  humanity,  just  as  it  is  here  on 
earth,  only  wholly  purified  or  wholly  depraved,  shall  inhabit 
eternity.  The  mixed  state,  existing  here  under  the  reign  of 
grace,  shall  cease  ;  and  the  depravity  gathered  to  itself  con- 
stitutes the  everlasting  death  ;  while  the  purified  shall  be 
gathered  to  itself  and  constitute  the  '^  life  and  immortahty." 

Compare  now,  for  a  moment,  these  soUd  and  subhme  truths 
with  the  philosophic  shadows  and  poetic  dreams  of  the  classic 
and  college  gospels  ;  their  dreamy  cloud  palaces  shifting  over 
head,  with  this  actual  Jerusalem  city  of  God  come  down  out 
of  heaven  ;  their  feeble  eSforts  to  become  the  articulate  voice 
of  the  unconscious  prophecies  of  humanity  in  its  longings,  with 
this  great  utterance  of  great  substantive  historic  fact ;  their 
attempts  to  gather  up  the  shadowy  notions  that  floated  down 
the  stream  of  generations,  with  this  actual  incarnation  of  them 
all !  And  thus  will  you  be  able  to  conceive  something  of  the 
cool  effrontery  of  this  philosophic  gospel  which  proposes  to  «s 
to  set  aside  the  gospel  of  life  and  immortality,  and  let  it 
devise  for  us  a  more  scientific  and  better  reasoned  gospel. 
That  would  have  us  remove  from  the  solid  foundation  of 
Jesus  and  the  Apostles,  that  they  may  build  our  faith  upon  the 
foundation  of  baseless  Platonic  and  Socratic  dreams !  That 
would  put  back  the  stone  to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  which, 
for  four  thousand  years,  humanity  had  been  pushing  at  in  vain 
till  Jesus  came  ;  put  it  back  now,  just  to  see  how  philosophy 
could  roll  it  away  if  it  were  there  ! 

No  !  No  !  brethren,  you  cannot  afford  that  experiment ! 
It  hath  cost  too  much  to  make  the  first  experiment  in  the  blood 
and  agonies  of  him  who,  as  our  representative,  burst  the  bars  of 
death  that  we  might  shout  "  0  Death, where  is  thy  sting?" 
Even  if,  as  the  philosophy  assures  us,  the  thing  could  be  done 
in  a  way  to  relieve  the  world  of  some  of  its  superstitions  and 


THE  GOSPEL  TEACnixVG  OF  "  LIFE  &  IMMORTALITY."  403 

fimcies,  and  relieve  the  gospel  from  the  sneers  of  tUe  philoso- 
phic wits,  still  the  new  gospel  of  tlie  "  -wise  and  prudent'* 
might  be  a  hidden  gospel  to  the  babes.  As  practical  men  wo 
saj,  ''let  well  enough  alone.'" 

"  Better  to  bear  those  ills  we  have 

Than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of." 

IIT.  But  the  fullness  and  completeness  of  the  gospel  will 
appear,  in  still  more  remarkable  contrast,  if  we  proceed  to 
the  details  of  its  teaching,  and  the  manner  of  its  teaching, 
concerning  the  "  life  and  immortality,"  as  a  continuance  of 
the  life  which  now  is.  These  details  relate  to  the  life, 
considered  simplj  as  a  life ;  and  the  blessedness  of  that  life, 
both  as  a  negatioii  of  all  evil  and  the  fullness  of  all  positive 
good. 

First,  the  manner  of  the  gospel,  in  its  teaching,  is  to  seek 
a  foundation  on  which  to  rear  the  structure  in  that  fundamental 
law  of  our  nature  which  leads  us  to  attach  importance  to  lift  ; 
to  have  a  regard  for  the  living  thing  which  we  cannot  attach 
to  dead  matter,  except  as  imagination  clothes  it  in  the 
attributes  of  hfe.  We  feel  a  nearness  of  relation  to  the  living: 
plant  above  the  unorganized  matter  around  it;  to  the  insect 
that  creeps  upon  the  plant,  above  that  ^VQ  feel  for  the  plant 
itself ;  for  the  animal  of  higher  order  more  than  for  the  insect ; 
for  the  intelligent  human  creature,  more  than  for  the  animal ; 
for  the  high  intellectual  human  life,  more  than  for  the  lower 
and  unintellectual ;  and  for  the  moral  life,  again,  more  rever- 
ence than  for  the  merely  intellectual.  Now  the  gospel,  taking 
fast  hold  of  this  law  of  our  minds,  vrhen  it  would  convey  to 
us  some  notion  of  its  transcendant  blessing,  declares  it  to  be 
a  life  above  all  these, — a  spiritujil,  and  everlastmg  life.  "  He 
that  believcth  hath  everlasting  life."  "  I  am  that  bread  of 
life."  '^  A  well  of  water  springing  up  unto  everlasting  life.' 
— These  forms  of  speech  are,  more  than  any  other,  the  fav- 
ourite gospel  expressions  for  the  redemption  which  it  olfers. 


404     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

Accordingly  in  the  gospel  representations  of  the  estate  of  the 
immortality  of  the  redeemed,  its  purpose  is  to  show  that  in 
this  immortality  provision  is  made  for  all  the  forms  of  this  life, 
whether  the  sentient,  the  intellectual,  the  emotional^  the  moral, 
or  the  spiritual  life. 

For  the  sentient,  or  lowest  form  of  life,  not  only  is  provision 
made  in  the  restoration  of  an  immortal  hody  in  junction  with 
the  immortal  soul,  but  in  a  "new  heaven  and  new  earth'* 
prepared  for  it.  And  as  in  the  life  here  this  connection  of 
the  spirit  with  matter  is  the  source  of  much  of  its  pleasurable 
enjoyment,  so  in  the  "life  and  immortahty"  that  form  of 
enjoj^ment  shall  not  cease.  Such  I  take  to  be  the  meaning 
of  the  intimation  of  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness;  of  the  city  with  its  walls  of  jasper;  of  the  crystal 
stream  springing,  as  a  river  of  light,  from  under  the  throne  ; 
of  the  green  fields,  shaded  by  glorious  trees  that  bear  the 
luscious  fruits ;  where  the  Lamb  leads  them  to  drink  of  the 
river  of  his  pleasures.  What  other  significance  have  all 
such  pictures,  than  that  the  sinless  joys  of  which  the  senses 
are  the  inlets  shall  be  ministered  unto  ?  That  for  the 
glorious  bodies  a  new  world  shall  exist  over  which  the  light 
of  that  estate  of  immortality  shall  b.e  thrown,  and  kindle  it 
into  beauty  and  glory  ?  Conceive,  then,  what  visions  of  glory 
shall  burst  upon  the  crystal  eye  restored  to  the  capacity  it 
had  in  a  sinless  world  !  What  new  enchantments  of  melody  to 
the  ear  attuned  anew  !  What  witchery  of  speech  to  the  loosed 
tongue !  In  short,  what  sensations  of  exquisite  delight  from 
that  restoration  when  the  mortal  shall  have  put  on  the  immor- 
tality in  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God  ! 

But  this  is  the  lowest  form  of  life.  Higher  than  all  this 
must  be  the  joys  of  the  intellectual  life  and  immortality. 
Here,  as  saith  the  Apostle,  "  we  know  in  part  and  we  prophesy 
in  part.  But  when  that  which  is,  perfect  is  come,  then  that 
which   is   in  part  shall   be  done    away.     For  now  we  see 


THE  GOSPEL  TEACHING  OF  "  LIFE  &  IMMORTALITY."  405 

through  a  glass  darkly;  but  then  face  to  face."  Here 
the  intellectual  vision  can  see  things  only  by  their  shadows ; 
as  through  a  translucent  glass,  beyond  which  the  shadows 
are  ever  flitting.  But  there  we  shall  be  admitted  within 
the  veil  to  a  direct  view  of  God,  and  knowledge  shall 
be  intuitive.  And  the  change  must  of  itself  vastly  enlarge 
the  reach  of  human  powers  of  intelligence.  "  We  shall 
know  as  we  are  known,"  says  the  Apostle.  Now  our  appre- 
hensions are  confused  by  false  notions  mingling  with  the  true  ; 
then  we  shall  know,  as  God  knows,  the  true  from  the  false. 
Here  our  ideas,  even  when  true,  are  often  mere  obscure 
glimmerings  of  the  truth  ;  but  there,  those  clouds  will  be  dis- 
pelled from  the  mental  perceptions  which  the  coming  in  of  sin 
has  thrown  over  the  mortal.  Here  we  cannot  grasp  complex 
ideas  by  reason  of  the  obscurity  of  our  perceptions  and  the 
feebleness  of  our  powers  ;  there,  relieved  of  all  such  trammel, 
the  power  of  combination  shall  be  immeasurably  increased. 
Here  the  knowledge  of  the  mortal  is  limited  to  such  of  the 
two  classes  of  being,  matter  and  spirit,  as  exist  in  our  universe  ; 
there,  being  in  direct  communication  with  other  orders  of 
being,  the  range  of  our  knowledge  shall  be  indefinitely 
extended. 

And  the  intellectual  nature  itself  must  vastly  increase  its 
powers,  under  the  new  circumstances,  restored  to  the  original 
greatness  it  had  when  first  man  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God.  Conceive  of  the  memory,  as  it  passes  on  eternally, 
gathering  ever  new  stores  into  its  treasury,  and  losing  none 
out  through  forge tfulness,  until  its  contents  shall  be  vaster 
than  all  the  libraries  of  the  world.  Of  the  powers  of  associa- 
tion, multiplying  suggestions  and  trains  of  thought  incal- 
culably. Of  the  imagination,  also,  gathering  all  the  while  its 
images  and  fanning  into  a  glow  its  fires,  as  it  passes  through 
the  various  orders  of  intelligence,  and  fashions  its  wonderful 
creations.     Of  the  reason,  gaining  even  new  cognitions  for  its 


406     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

premises,  and  working  out,  unembarrassed  bj  untruths,  its 
conclusions.  Of  the  executive  energy  of  the  will,  and  the 
reflex  influence  on  the  intellect  of  emotions  always  holy  ! 

xis  we  pass  upward  td  the  still  higher  emotional  life  whose 
laws  we  are  less  able  to  analyze,  we  but  the  more  feel  the 
force  of  the  Apostle's  declaration,  "  eye  hath  not  seen  nor 
ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  mind  of  man  to 
conceive"  of  the  glory  of  the  life  and  immortality.  But  if 
we  have  reasoned  correctly  from  the  scripture  intimations 
announcing  the  restoration  of  the  sentient  and  intellectual 
life,  we  perceive  that,  with  such  a  platform  of  existence,  sen- 
tient and  intellectual,  the  emotional  nature  of  humanity  must 
then  be  projected  upon  such  a  scale  that  we  have  no  analogies 
whereby  to  illustrate  it.  The  ordinary  play  and  ripple  of  the 
emotions  of  the  heart,  in  this  restored  humanity,  must,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  transcend  all  epic  and  all  tragic  grandeur 
of  the  mortal  state. 

Still  less  able  are  we  to  form  adequate  conceptions  from 
analogies  and  approximations  of  the  highest  of  all  forms  of 
life — the  spiritual  life  in  that  estate  of  life  and  immortality. 
For  we  see  it  here  only  in  its  feeble  manifestations,  in  per- 
petual struggles  for  continued  existence  in  the  soul,  against 
the  passions  and  depravity  that  naturally  have  had  sway 
therein.  Yet  we  may  readily  conceive,  by  contrast,  what 
such  a  life  must  be  when  delivered  from  this  bondage.  How 
the  soul,  purified  and  restored  to  the  full  and  free  play  of 
that  spiritual  life,  sustained  and  cherished  now,  instead  of 
resisted  in  its  action,  by  all  the  powers  of  the  other  forms  of 
life,  must  attain  immediately  to  inconceivable  heights  of  this 
life.  "  The  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God,"  is  the  expressive 
phrase  of  the  gospel — "  see  him  as  he  is."  The  war  in  the 
members  over,  all  the  spiritual  energies,  unembarrassed  and 
untrammelled,  are  directed  to  the  one  object  of  near  approach 
to,  and  closer  communion  with,  God.  "  It  is  not  lawful  for  man 


407 

to  utter,"  saitli  the  Apostle,  the  things  that  belong  to  that 
life.  ''An  exceedmg  and  eternal  weight  of  glory''  is  the 
accumulation  of  terms  whereby  he  would  enlarge  our  ideas  of 
it.  But  our  conceptions  of  the  nature  of  that  estate,  in  all 
forms  of  life,  are  materially  assisted  by  various  descriptions 
of  the  blessedness  of  that  life  in  addition  to  what  is  taught  of 
the  nature  of  it.     For, 

Secondly,  the  gospel,  by  most  expressive  negations, 
furnishes  us  with  many  elements  from  which  we  may  deduce 
something  of  its  nature.  It  is  described  as  a  rest — cessation 
from  toil  and  struggle.  And  this,  in  conformity  with  the 
gospel  view  of  the  mortal  life  as  a  condition  of  sin  and  ruin, 
and  consequently  of  sorrow  and  spiritual  languor  and  weariness. 
The  fundamental  conception  of  "  the  life  and  immortality  "  is 
of  an  estate  from  which  all  that  is  sinful  is  separated,  antl 
nothing  allowed  to  enter  that  can  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  soul. 
The  chaff  hath  all  been  winnowed  out,  the  wheat  garnered  to 
itself.  And  there  being  nothing  sinful,  either  within  or  with- 
out, there  is  no  more  struggle  nor  fighting  the  good  fight  of 
faith.  So  also  the  gospel  declares,  negatively,  there  shall  be 
no  more  curse.  Therefore,  an  eternal  deliverance  from  all 
reproaches  of  conscience,  and  from  the  dread  of  God's  dis- 
pleasure. "  They  hunger  no  more  nor  thirst  any  more."  AH 
the  longings  and  yearnings,  and  uneasiness  of  the  mortal 
(State  shall  cease ;  "  neither  shall  the  sun  light  upon  them, 
nor  any  heat."  "  There  shall  be  no  more  death,"  nor  "  sorrow 
and  crying,"  for  "  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their 
eyes."  All  these  arc  expressive  of  the  nature  of  that  state 
as  a  deliverance  from  every  conceivable  form  of  uneasiness 
and  disquiet  of  spirit. 

And  to  the  same  <3ffect  are  all  those  negations,  by  figurative 
description,  which  give  rein  to  the  imagination,  and  invite  a 
contemplation  through  symbols  of  that  estate.  "  There  shall 
be  no  night  there ;"  "  they  need  no  candle,  nor  light  of  the 


408     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMxAIORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

sun."  The  mortal  machine  needs  no  longer  to  be  wound  up 
bj  these  alternations  between  action  and  repose.  There  shall 
be  nothing  to  interrupt  incessant  activity  in  the  service  of 
God.  The  mortal  has  become  like  Him  whose  attribute  it  is 
that  '*he  never  slumbers  nor  sleeps,"  and  like  the  living 
creatures  before  His  throne  who  ceaae  not  day  and  night 
singing  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was  and 
is,  and  is  to  come."  And,  just  as  it  is  a  perfection  of  the  God- 
head, and  of  these  lofty-created  intelligences,  that  they  sleep 
not,  so  the  mortal,  in  that  estate  of  immortality,  shall  spring 
forward  to  take  its  place  among  the  highest  creatures  to 
serve  and  enjoy  God  without  a  pause.  There  shall  be  no 
night  either  in  any  of  its  figurative  senses  of  darkness  and 
ignorance,  of  affliction  and  sorrow  of  heart,  of  treachery  and 
secret  crimes.  To  the  mortal  in  a  world  of  sin,  how  keen 
must  seem  this  insight  into  the  human  nature,  and  that  which 
is  attractive  to  it,  in  thus  negatively  describing  this  immor- 
tality as  no  sickness  with  its  languor,  no  sorrow  of  counten- 
tenance,  no  death,  no  stormy  passions  with  its  wreck  and 
havoc,  no  cares  of  life  to  agitate,  no  reverses  to  fill  the  spirit 
with  gloom,  no  jealousy  to  trouble  friendship,  no  treachery  to 
watch,  no  evil  to  struggle  against!  Verily,  this  must  be  a 
divine  skill  that  describes  an  immortality  so  precisely  to  meet 
the  desires  of  humanity.  i^iM 

Thirdly.  Far  from  resting  in  mei^  negations,  however,  the 
gospel  descriptions  represent  a  positive  bliss  also,  displacing  the 
idea  thus  negatived.  If  they  need  no  light  of  the  sun,  it  is 
because  the  "  Lord  God  giveth  them  light."  If  they  need  no 
temple,  it  is  because  the  "  Lord  God  is  the  temple  thereof." 
All  the  knowledge  which  could  have  been  communicated  to 
the  mortal  by  means  and  ordinances  will  then  seem  insignifi- 
cant as  the  light  of  the  candle  compared  with  the  sun.  The 
universe  will  be  to  the  immortals  one  infinite  manifestation 
of  God.     His   righteousness   and  truth,  and   holiness   and 


NO  GOSPEL  FAITH  IF  RESURRECTIOX  DENIED.     409 

loving-kindness — all  his  attributes— will  blaze  and  glow 
throuMi  immeasurable  space.  And  the  faculties  and  capaci- 
ties of  the  immortal  shall  be  equal  to  the  task  of  compre- 
hending God.  No  longer  gathering  conceptions  from  dim 
shadows  and  mysterious  types,  but,  having  entered  into  the 
very  presence-chamber  of  Infinite  Majesty,  the  mind  shall 
have  directly  the  power  of  the  eye,  and  gather  in  truth  as 
his  eye  takes  in  the  scenes  of  nature. 

I  might  show  you  also  how  this  positive  bliss  is  involved  in 
the  description  of  it  as  an  "  inheritance,"  as  ^'  glory  and 
honour,"  as  "  reward,"  as  a  "  kingdom,"  all  with  reference 
to  different  aspects  of  the  mortal  state,  and  in  contrast  with 
it.  Time  fails,  however,  for  further  illustrations  of  the  method 
of  the  gospel  teaching  concerning  the  life  and  immortality. 
For  it  is  specially  important  to  fix  your  attention,  before 
closing,  on  the  practical  bearing  of  this  whole  argument  upon 
the  daily  life  of  a  mortal  that  is  thus  to  put  on  immortality. 

1.  From  the  forgoing  views  of  this  whole  subject,  you  will 
no  longer  be  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  why  the  Apostle,  in  his 
argument  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Corinthians,  makes  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  the  great  key-stone  fact  of  revelation, 
without  which  '•  our  preaching  is  vain,  and  your  faith  is  vain." 
Nor  wdiy,  elsewhere  in  the  gospel,  this  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection is  made  fundamental,  and  why  the  Apostles  describe 
the  substance  of  their  message  as  "  preaching  Jesus  and  the 
resurrection."  Not  only  is  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
logically,  in  idea,  anterior  to  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith,  because  the  raising  of  Jesus  from  the  dead  is  the  assur- 
ance to  us  that  God  accepted  the  offering  of  his  obedience 
and  death  as  full  s^tisfaction  for  our  sins,  so  that  "  lie  might 
be  just,  and  yet  the  jusiifier  of  him  that  believe th  in  Jesus  ;" 
but  the  resurrection,  and  the  carrying  the  humanity  with 
him  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  is  the  fundamental  fact  on 
which  any  real  faith  in  our  immortaUty  must  rest,  in  which 


dlO     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

we  find  the  kej  to  tlie  mysterious  instincts  of  wliicli  we  are 
conscious,  and  upon  which  any  doctrine  of  immortaUty, 
adequate  to  the  comfort  of  our  souls  in  view  of  death,  can  be 
constructed. 

2.  You  will  readily  perceive  also,  from  this  view  of  the 
gospel  doctrine,  that  any  and  every  attempt  to  subvert  the 
great  truth  of  the  resurrection  as  an  historic  fact — no  matter 
under  what  pious  disguise,  or  from  what  intention — is  nothing 
else  than  simple  infidelity,  and  leading  us  back  to  mere 
heathenism.  For,  as  the  Apostle  declares,  "  If  Christ  be  not 
risen,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith  also  is  vain. 
Yea  and  we  are  found  false  witnesses  of  God,  and  those 
which  arc  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are  perished."  Assuming 
the  correctness  of  our  view  generally,  then  nothing  can  be 
more  inexorable  than  this  logic,  as  any  man  that  can 
appreciate  a  logical  demonstration  must  see.  So  far,  there- 
fore, from  rendering  any  aid  to  gospel  truth  by  these  classic 
gospels,  or  college  gospels,  which  claim  to  establish  immor- 
tality for  man  without  any  resurrection,  there  is  danger  that, 
however  well  intended,  they  remove  the  very  foundations  of 
the  popular  faith,  and  lead  men  to  trust  "  another  gospel, 
which  is  not  another,"  as  the  Apostle  saith  when  describing 
the  teaching  of  "  some  that  would  pervert  the  gospel  of 
Christ."  Set  it  down  in  your  minds,  when  tempted  by  your 
pride  to  hear  tnd  ac:out  these  leci'.iied  and  scientific  gospels 
of  immortality,  that  the  most  they  can  do  for  you  is  to  con- 
firm the  testimony  which  your  own  inner  nature  has  already 
aSirmed  of  the  probability  of  a  future  existence,  and  on  that 
basis  reason  out  for  you  an  immortal  hell,  not  a  life  and 
immortality.  I  hardly  need  remind  you,  even  after  what  has 
been  said,  that  the  whole  of  that  class  of  bibhcal  expositors, 
who  employ  their  ingenuity  in  so  reading  the  inspired  word 
as  to  make  the  story  of  the  risen  J^sus  not  fact,  but  a 
beautiful  allegorical  or  philosophical  fiction,  whatever  may 


NO  GOSPEL  FAITH  IF  RESURRECTIOX  DENIED.    41] 

be  their  motive — wlietheT*  sincere  or  insincere,  conscious  or' 
unconscious — are  simply  perpetrating  a  sham  upon  you,  in 
pretending  that  such  interpretations  may  consist  with  any 
real  faith  in  Christianity.  Bear  in  mind  that  the  grand 
anti-Christian  movement  of  our  day  is  not  open  and  bold 
attack,  but  a  flank  movement  to  get  into  possession  of  the 
citadel  of  faith  which  has  for  near  two  thousand  years  proved 
impregnable  to  the  gates  of  hell.  Discovering  that  humanity 
must  have  a  gospel  to  satisfy  its  longings,  and  that,  therefore, 
the  assaults  of  open  atheism  and  deism  were  unsuccessful 
from  disregard  of  the  necessities  of  humanity,  the  assault  by 
the  infidelity  of  our  age  is  chiefly  by  strategy— to  substitute 
'•  another  gospel,  which  is  not  another,"  but  really  no  gospel 
at  ^\L  And  the  favourite  strategy  of  all  is  to  impose  upon 
the  people  a  gospel  of  Jesus,  vjith  the  part  of  Jesus  omitted. 
There  is  of  course  no  need  of  reminding  well-grounded  ^ 
sober-minded  Christian  men,  of  the  treachery  :  but  it  may  be 
important  to  remind  our  ardent  young  men  of  literary  tastes 
and  j^ursuits,  that  if  the  general  ground  of  the  preceding 
exposition  be  correct,  then  that  seemingly  Christian  style  of 
thought  that  is  now  pervading  a  large  portion  of  our  litera- 
ture in  every  department ;  which  affects  to  be  too  spiritully 
intellectual  to  accept  "  the  external"  religion  of  the  fathers, 
and  their  common  sense  readings  of  the  scripture  history — is 
but  disguised  infidelity,  whether  conscious  or  unconscious. 
And  while  it  may  seem  to  be  Christianity,  and  to  construct  an 
attractive  form  of  the  gospel  for  the  benefit  of  literary  men, 
yet  in  the  day  that  sorrow  and  trouble  of  conscience  shall 
drive  you  in  search  of  a  gospel  to  rest  your  souls  upon,  this 
will  surely  prove  "  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision."  ''  Other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  save  that  is  laid  in  Christ  Jesus  :" 
howe^^er  brilliant  the  genius,  and  profound  the  reasoning 
powers,  of  him  that  attempts  it.  And  any  foundation  that 
pretends  to  be  in  Christ  Jesus  while  ignoring  his  death  as 


412     GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED,  j 

mi  expiation  for  sin,  and  his  resurrection  as  the  basis  of  our  : 

life  and  immortality,  is  but  a  cheat  and  a  delusion  of  the  : 

iiuman  spirit.  | 

3.  But  there  are  other    lessons  for  the  practical  life    in  \ 
this  Apostolic  view  of  ^'  life  and  immortality."  You  will  per-  \ 
■ceive  that  in  this  view  the  question  of  immortality  is  neither 
any  curious   speculative  problem,  nor  any  beautiful   poetic 
dream  to  captivate  the  imagination  :  nor  any  mere  sentiment 
to  play  upon  the  affections  of  the  heart.      It  is  a  question  of  \ 

I   :^tern  realities  that  lie  just  ahead  of  us  all  :  and  in  a  few  days 

with  some — a  few  months  with  others — a  few  years  with  the  i 
youngest  will  be  the  one  question  in  which  all  the  transient 

issues  and  excitements  that  now  absorb  us  will  be  swallowed  . 

up.     It  is  therefore  no  mere  subject  of  debate  to  which  you  ; 

listen  as  hearers  having  no  concern,  or  only  a  very  remote  , 

concern.     It  is  a  question  of  life  and  death — life  and  immor-  ; 

tality,  or  death  and  immortality — to  every  one  of  you.  ; 

4.  And  it  adds  to  its  pressing  importance  that  this  is  no 
question  of  the  future  with  which  the  present  has  little  to  do  ; 
and  which  therefore  may  be  left  to  be  settled  when  the  future 
shall  become  present  to  us.  If  merely  a  question  of  the  end-  ; 
less  existence  of  the  soul,  in  another  and  different  order  of  | 
existence,  it  might  be  so.  But  as  it  is  the  present  mortal  ' 
that  is  to  put  on  immortality,  every  man  and  woman,  old  and  ' 
young,  is  actually  determining  each  hour  what  shall  be  the  i 
character  of  the  immortality.  The  life  that  now  is — this  very  I 
every-day,  unromantic  life — wearing  away,  hour  after  hour,  ' 
is  the  £i;erminal  seed  of  that  immortal  life.  And  "  what  a  ' 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.  He  that  soweth  to  his  i 
flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption ;  but  he  that  soweth  I 
to  the  spirit  shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life  everlasting."  So  ; 
that  every  day  the  character  of  the  immortality  is  in  process  \ 
of  development.  And  every  day,  according  as  you  are  \ 
sowing  to  the  flesh,  or  by  God's  grace,  sowing  to  the  spirit,  ' 


THE    SOLE^rX    PRACTICAL    TRUTHS    INVOLVED.     413^ 

is  determining,  just  in  that  far,  whether  the  mortality  shall 
put  on  an  immortality  of  joy,  or  an  immortality  of  sorrow. 

5.  It  is  altogether  a  delusion  that  it  is  left  to  mien's  choice 
whether  they  shall  stand  in  any  relation  to  Christ  or  not,  and. 
whether  they  shall  be  judged  by  his  gospel  or  not.  For,  as 
we  have  seen,  even  the  Christ-rejecting  sinners  of  the  race,, 
just  as  much  as  the  sinners  who  accept  his  salvation,  are 
already  in  such  relation  to  Christ  that  his  resurrection 
secures  their  resurrection  from  the  dead  ;  and  therefore  also- 
a  retribution,  in  their  present  nature — rising  to  life  and  im- 
mortality or  rising  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt.  And 
however  men  may  say  "  we  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign  ^ 
aver  us,"  there  is  really  no  choice  in  the  matter,  save  the- 
question  wdiether  he  shall  reign  in  their  heart's  affections,  as 
the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  leading  them  in  life 
and  immortality,  or  as  the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,, 
whose  wrath  will  cause  them  to  cry,  in  vain,  "  Rocks  fall  on 
us,  and  hills  cover  us  from  the  face  of  him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne."  The  relation  of  Jesus  to  us,  as  head  of  the  race, 
is  a  matter  settled  in  the  counsels  of  eternity.  His  relation 
to  us  as  a  pardoning  and  restoring  Saviour  is  the  question 
which  each  must  determine  for  himself. 

G.  You  will  observe  that  th^  yerj  terms  in  which  the 
immortality  is  set  forth,  various  as  they  are,  all  exclude 
alike  those  hopes  of  a  blissful  immortality  founded  on  the 
illusions  and  dreams  on  which  men  at  ease  in  sin  are  resting 
their  hopes.  Not  only  is  the  immortaHty  to  spring  from  the 
"  mortal "  here  as  its  germinal  seed,  but  all  the  terms  used 
as  figures  to  express  the  nature  of  the  life  and  immortality 
imply  that  the  mortal  has  settled  its  character.  It  is  a  rest. 
Therefore  it  can  be  the  award  only  to  those  weary  of  the 
struggle  with  sin  ;  and  with  toils  in  the  master's  service.  It 
is  an  inheritance.  Therefore  only  for  the  family  of  Jesus 
Christ  provided  for  in  "  the  last  will  and  testament  "  of  his- 


414  GOSPEL  AND  CLASSIC  IMMORTALITY  CONTRASTED. 

TdIoocI  ;  constituting  them  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with 
-Jesus  Christ.  It  is  a  rev^ard.  Therefore  conferred  upon 
those  who  have  laboured  faithfully  to  receive  it.  It  is  ylory 
and  honour  Therefore  properly  conferred  only  upon  those 
who  have  conquered  and  won  tho  victory :  not  to  the 
•cowardly,  and  half-hearted,  and  double-minded  who  stood 
aloof  from  the  conflict.  It  is  a*  'kingdoyn,  and  therefore  com- 
posed only  of  such  as  have  been  naturalized  in  the  mortal : 
since  otherwise  they  must  remain  everlasting  aliens. 

Not  a  term,  not  a  figure  of  speech,  not  an  argument  or 
exposition  setting  forth  the  "  Hfe  and  immortahty,"  but  thus 
points  to  the  mortal  and  proclaims  to  you — ''  Behold  now  is 
4he  day  of  salvation  I" 


DISCOURSE  XIX. 

THE  GOSPEL  ALARUM.      ITS  IMPORT. 

EpHESiANS  V.  11. — Wherefore  he  saith,  Awake  thou  that  sleepest  and  arise 
from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light. 

Seems  it  a  strange  and  abrupt  transition,  brethren,  that  in 
the  midst  of  these  plain  and  homely  admonitions  concerning 
the  duties  belonging  to  the  ordinary,  every  day  level  of  the 
Christian  life,  here  suddenly  shoots  up  this  alarum  cry 
^'  Awake  thou  that  sleepest,"  as  shoots  up  mount  Tabor 
from  the  plain  of  Esdraelon  ? 

It  is  because  of  that  tendency  of  the  great  Apostle's  mind, 
ever  absorbed  with  the  two  grand  generalizations  which  con- 
stitute the  essence  of  the  gospel — man's  estate  of  sin  and 
death,  and  Christ  crucified  his  all-sufficient  Saviour — to  see 
every  other  truth  in  the  light  of  these  two  and  in  its  rela- 
tions to  these  two.  Hence  to  him  the  Christian,  primarily, 
is  one  who  hath  been  awaked  from  the  death  of  trespasses 
and  sins  by  the  grace  of  God;  and  all  his  dangers  and 
temptations  have  their  root  in  his  tendency,  from  the  drowsi- 
ness that  is  upon  him,  to  fall  back  into  the  stupor  of  the  death 
sleep  again.  Hence  to  the  Apostle's  view  the  end  and  aim 
of  all  counsels  and  admonitio-ns  is  to  counteract  this  tendency, 
and  in  effect  to  ply  him  continually  with  the  alarum  which 
first  roused  him  from  the  death  sleep. 

The  explanation  of  this  abruptness  is,  therefore,  analogous 
to  that  which  the  critics  give  us  of  the  abrupt,  irregular 
grandeur  of  genius  such  as  Homer's,  Pindar's,  or  Shake- 
speare's.    That  great  truths  lie  hidden  in  their  minds  which 


416  THE    GOSPEL    ALARUM — ITS    IMPORT. 

Other  men  do  not  see,  and  therefore  the  worldngs,  under 
these  truths,  of  the  vast  forces  within  is  as  the  movenlent 
of  those  primeval  volcanic  fires  of  the  geologists  which,  in 
their  ordinary  ripple  and  play,  have  heaved  up,  here  a  vast 
chain  cf  mountains  to  span  a  continent :  here  the  fantastic 
irregular  heaps ;  and  here  the  solitary  peak  shooting  upward 
to  the  sky  as  if  having  sought  to  cool  its  molten  head  in  the 
regions  of  eternal  snow  ! 

Without  further  comment  on  its  connection  and  relation,  I 
propose  to  illustrate  the  fundamental  truths  expressed  in  this 
gospel  alarum.  First,  Concerning  the  death-sleep,  as  the 
natural  condition  of  men ;  Second,  Of  the  awakening  from 
it ;  Third,  The  encouraging  promise  annexed  of  aid  to  the 
awakened;  Fourth,  The  urgent  hastefulness  of  the  gospel 
call. 

I.  "  Thou  that  sleepest  and  art  dead."  Such  is  uniformly 
the  picture  which  inspiration  paints  of  the  native  condition  of 
man  spiritually.  And,  without  a  proper  apprehension  of  this 
truth,  all  the  gospel  truths  become  confused,  obscure,  or 
meaningless.  Born  into  a  world  that  has  wandered  from 
the  spiritual  orbit  into  which  it  was  projected  by  the  hand  of 
its  Maker,  the  change  of  orbit  has  produced  a  change  of 
climate  ;  the  intense  chills  of  the  spiritual  winter  have  stupe- 
fied all  the  moral  powers  of  man ;  and  no  plants  of  hohness 
can  endure  it  but  such  exotics  as  the  great  Lord  of  the 
garden  shall,  with  unceasing  care  and  attention,  shelter 
from  the  chill  blasts,  and  by  the  warm  breathings  of  his 
love,  expand  the  blossom  and  ripen  the  fruit. 

This  is  declared  not  merely  dogmatically  in  all  the  state- 
ments concerning  the  nature  and  character  of  man,  in  the 
scripture,  but  is  assumed  and  implied  in  every  invitation  ol 
the  gospel  mercy.  This  is  a  gospel  for  saving  sinners,  for 
calling  not  the  righteous  but  sinners,  for  saving  that  which 
was  lost ;  for  quickening  them  that  are  dead  in  trespasses  and 
in  sins. 


MAX  SPIRITUALLY  IN  A  DEATH  STUPOR  &  DREAM.    417 

The  very  call  of  the  gospel  of  love  comes  as  a  cry  cf  com- 
passionate alarm.  As  pastor  Vinet  beautifully  illustrates  this 
very  call  of  the  text.  It  is  as  the  cry  of  some  monk  of  St 
Bernard  on  the  Alps  scouting  with  his  faithful  dog,  and 
finding,  perchance,  a  traveller  through  the  Alpine  snows 
stretched  out  to  sleep  upon  the  white  sheet  of  frost,  and 
already  beginning  to  be  bound  in  the  .arms  of  that  invincible 
slumber  which  precedes  freezing,  from  which  no  voice  but 
God's  can  ever  wake  him  ;  he  shakes  the  sleeper,  and  shouts 
the  alarum  in  his  dull  ear,  "  awake  that  I  may  guide  thee  to 
shelter.*'  Just  such  is  the  cry  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  gospel? 
to  the  slumbering  sinners  of  earth  already  in  the  death 
stupor.  "  Awake  thou  sleeper — arise  from  the  dead — I  will 
give  thee  light."  0,  sinner,  if  it  seem  to  you  a  very  rough 
shakin'g  up  and  a  harsh  call,  when  sometimes  he  lays  his 
hand  in  affliction  and  trouble  upon  thee,  still  remember  it  is 
the  roughness  of  love  yearning  for  thy  salvation.  As  I 
i*emember  to  have  read  in  some  of  the  journals,  the  story  of 
that  hardy  sea-captain  wrecked,  mid-winter,  upon  our  bleak 
northern  coasts,  under  chill  blasts  that  had  sent  all  living 
things  to  shelter.  Far  down  the  beach  he  saw  a  light,  and  knew 
if  he  could  keep  up  life  and  motion  within  his  icy  garments, 
long  enough  to  reach  it  there  was- still  a  chance  for  life.  His 
own  stout  frame  could  have  endured,  as  the  gnarled  oak,  all 
the  blasts  of  the  tempest,  but  Avith  either  hand  he  led  a  boy 
the  very  idols  of  his  soul — eight  and  ten  years  of  age. 
Tlieir  tender  frames  were  soon  chilled  as  a  flower  in  the 
frost ;  and  that  heavy  drowsiness  began  to  fall  upon  them 
which  is  ever  the  precursor  of  death  by  freezing.  At  every 
step  or  two,  as  he  urged  them  over  the  frozen  sands,  they 
would  plead  ''  Father,  could'nt  you  let  us  stop  and  rest,  and 
sleep,  just  a  minute — then  we'll  go  bravely  on !"  But, 
knowing  it  was  a  race  with  death  to  reach  the  sign  of  shelter, 
the  poor  father  must,  at  length,  with  rude  shakings,  and  even 

BB 


418  THE   GOSPEL   ALARUM — ITS    IMPORT. 

blows  urge  them  on,  while  his  heart  bled  at  every  blow  and 
his  heartstrings  were  breaking. 

Just  such  is  the  rudeness  of  this  Saviour  Jesus,  as,  through 
his  Providence  as  well  as  his  word,  he  would  arouse  thee 
from  this  death  stupor,  saying  in  kindness  and  compassion — 
"  Awake  "  now,  "  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep." 
The  death  stupor  is  upon  thee,  and  if  thou  fallback  after  this 
awaking  no  voice  of  mercy  may  come  to  awake  thee  again." 

It  is  difficult  indeed  to  make  the  propriety  of  this  figure 
apparent  to  the  men  of  this  world.  For  it  seems  tc  them,  as 
they  look  upon  the  restless  activity  that  surrounds  them,  that 
any  other  term  than  "  asleep,"  should  be  the  figure  to 
describe  it.  "This  world  around  us  asleep?"  they  ask — 
these  panting  millions,  pressing,  dashing,  trampling  each 
other  in  the  dusty  highways  of  fortune,  fame  or  pleasure  ? 
.t\sleep  1 — this  restless  raging  ocean  of  life,  over  which  the 
storm  king  rides  in  his  fury.  Humanity  asleep,  that  neither 
night,  nor  sickness,  nor  satiety  can  check  in  its  tumultuous 
course  ?  Your  figure  of  the  Alpine  traveller  can  surely  aj)ply 
to  none  save  these  stolid  unthinking  animals  in  human  form  ; 
or  these  sluggish  drones  whom  neither  pleasure  nor  danger 
can  excite  ;  with  whom  the  physical  life  is  the  all  of  them,  and 
who,  fastening  themselves  to  some  stable  support  as  the 
oyster,  care  for  nothing  but  their  physical  wants,  and  trouble 
themselves  only  to  open  and  shut  the  mouth  in  receiving  and 
retaining  the  needful  sustenance  of  life ! 

The  scriptures  however  make  no  distinction  in  this  regard  ; 
nor  do  they  classify  these  sleepers  into  the  active  and  the 
tranquil.  But  they  do  teach  that  this  spiritual  slumber  may 
consist  with  great  physical  and  intellectual  actinty.  They 
are  not  only  sleepers  but  somnambulists.  They  walk  and 
still  sleep;  they  speak,  though  still  they  sleep;  with  open 
eyes  they  sleep ;  but  in  the  view  of  the  gospel  they  have  eyes 
and  see  not — ears   have    they  ^  but   they   hear  not.     They 


MAX  SPIRITUALLY  IX  A  DEATH  STUPOR  &  DREAM.   4i*J 

sec  Avliat  is  not,  and  do  not  sec  "what  is  ;  things  far  off  seem 
near  to  them;  things  near  seem  flir  off.  While  they  walk,  as 
"wakeful  men,  their  steps  are  not  directed  by  the  reality  of 
thincrs. 

o 

"  This  life's  a  dream,  an  empty  show,"  with  all  its  passions 
and  agitations.  These  activities  arc  but  dreams ;  visions 
created  by  the  fancy,  no  longer  restrained  by  realities,  and 
running  wild  of  the  judgment.  They  live  in  a  phantom  world, 
in  which  they  give  to  the  phantoms  the  forms  of  reality,  but 
on  awaking  to  their  true  hfe,  all  these  must  dissipate.  It  is 
not  a  sleep  therefore  which  suspends  the  physical  and  intellec- 
tual activities.  But  if  it  is  to  sleep  when  men  have  no  longer 
power  to  distinguish  sliadows  from  realities  ;  if  it  is  to  sleep, 
when  men's  thoughts  are  all  absorbed  with  gaining  an  end 
which  does  not  exist ;  and  if  it  is  to  sleep  when  men  are 
utterly  unconscious  of  all  the  realities  that  surround  them, 
while  their  anxieties  and  fears  are  directed  to  fancies  that  flit 
before  them — then  certainly  the  gospel  utters  no  paradox  in 
describing  as  sleepers,  men  Avho  are  applying  all  the  energies 
of  an  immortal  nature  to  perishable  tilings  ;  and  attributing  to 
finite  things  a  value  and  importance  that  can  belong  only  to 
things  infinite. 

There  is  neither  piety  nor  good  sense  in  the  sentimental 
tirades  of  discontented  spirits  against  the  vanity  and  worth, 
lessness  of  the  world  and  of  the  life  of  men  in  it.  The  life 
in  this  world  has  its  value,  and  the  world  in  its  own  sphere  has 
its  value,  but  not  as  the  reality  and  the  great  object  of  an 
immortal  soul's  existence.  To  that  soul,  framed  for  another 
life  and  for  God  as  its  great  object,  the  world  is  the  shadow 
of  a  great  reality.  As  the  physical  universe  is  a  shadow  of 
God  who  made  it  and  proves  his  existence,  so  all  that  belongs 
to  life  in  this  universe  is  a  shadow  of  the  infinite  realities  that 
exist  in  the  life  spiritual.  What  is  this  love  of  fame,  and  of 
the  applause  of  other  beings,  but  the  shadow  of  that  true 


420  THE   GOSPEL   ALARUM — ITS   IMPORT. 

desire  of  the  soul  for  the  plaudit  "  well  done  good  and  faithful 
servant,"  from  God  and  holy  beings  ?  What  is  this  desire  to 
live  in  the  remembrance  of  men  when  we  are  dead,  but 
another  form  of  the  soul's  natural  desire  for  immortal 
existence,  and  horror  of  ceasing  to  exist  ?  What  is  this 
greed  of  gain  but  the  shadow  of  that  passion  of  the  soul  to 
have  in  store,  for  the  future,  treasures  in  heaven,  where  moth 
and  rust  corrupt  not  ?  Nay,  what  is  this  incessant  desire  of 
pleasures  and  the  excitements  of  joy  but  the  shadow  of  the 
soul's  inarticulate  longing  for  "  his  presence  where  is  fulness 
of  joy,  and  at  his  right  hand  where  are  pleasures  for  ever 
more."  To  man,  as  an  immortal  being,  there  can  possibly  be 
no  reality  save  God  and  his  relation  to  God. 

The  gospel,  in  this  respect,  but  intev-:rets  for  men  those 
suspicions  and  guesses  which  the  slee/.j-vs  have  sometimes 
made  in  their  disturbed  dreams.  For  this  sleep  of  theirs  is 
the  restless  sleep  of  disease — sometimes  almost  coming  to 
waking.  And,  as  it  is  in  restless  imperfect  sleep  that  we 
dream  most,  and  the  dreams  are  most  like  our  waking 
thoughts,  so  many  of  these  dreamers,  in  different  ages,  have 
seemed  to  come  to  a  sort  of  half  consciousness,  and  to  the 
suspicion  of  the  true  harmony  of  their  nature  with  something 
more  real  than  this  dreamy  state. 

II.  Now  there  can  be  but  one  of  two  awakenings  from  this 
death  sleep;  either  the  natural  waking  when  death  shall 
come  and  dissolve  the  fancies  and  sham  objects  of  sense  from 
the  view  of  the  soul ;  or  the  spiritual  awakening  under  this 
gospel  alarum.  For,  obviously,  if  the  nature  of  the  sleep  has 
been  truly  described,  then  the  awakening  from  it  must  be  at 
the  death  which  dissolves  the  physical  nature.  If  it  seem  a 
paradox  to  say  that  one  awakes  from  sleep  in  the  sleep  of 
death ;  and  that  one  arises  from  the  dead  at  death ;  the 
paradox  is  only  apparent  and  verbal.  When  the  scriptures 
speak  of  death  as  a  sleep,' it  is  only  by  figure,  to  describe  that 


THE  NATURAL  AWAKENING  AT  DEATH.  ITS  TERRORS.  421 

^vhicli  is  apparent  and  in  accordance  with  human  forms  of 
speech  and  thought.  Death  is  the  true  awakening  of  the  soul 
from  these  dreams  which  have  hecn  described.  If  not,  then 
it  must  1)0  the  beginning  of  a  dreamless  sleep,  which  it  is 
unnatural  and  revolting  to  us  to  think  of.  Man  himself, 
in  his  dreams,  instinctively  looks  forward  to  death  as  some 
sort  of  awakening  of  his  spiritual  nature. 

And  what,  think  you,  shall  be  the  awakening  of  those  who 
have  all  life  long  been  pursuing  phantoms  ;  when  suddenly 
God,  the  true  end  of  the  soul's  existence,  bursts  upon  its  view 
after  the  long  night  of  sensual  revel  and  debauch  ?  When 
^'  the  Lord  of  the  servant  shall  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night 
and  find  him  asleep  at  his  post."  No  finite  mind  can  conceive  it 
nor  human  tongue  describe  it.  If  you  could  ask  yon  trav- 
eller, who,  in  his  sleep-walking,  has  stumbled  over  the  pre- 
cipice of  a  thousand  feet,  what  kind  of  waking  that  was  to 
find  himself  mid-air  rushing  down  to  destruction.  If  you 
could  ask  that  father,  awakened  to  find  himself  and  children 
enveloped  beyond  all  hope  of  deliverance  in  a  sheet  of  glow- 
ing flame,  what  sort  of  waking  that  is  !  If  either  could  find 
words  to  express  the  soul  emotions  of  such  a  moment,  then 
might  you  find  words  to  express  by  feeble  approximation  the 
awakening  of  the  sleeper  at  death. 

The  inspired  writers  find  all  language  breaking  down 
under  the  Aveight  of  the  thoughts  they  would  convey  of  the 
terrors  of  that  waking.  They  seem  to  labour  to  convey  some 
idea  of  it  through  analogies  and  approximations.  They  bid 
you  try  to  conceive  of  the  most  terrific  things  in  the  sphere 
of  the  external  world,  and  then  intimate,  "  worse  than  all 
that."  Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  terrible  than  of  a 
mountain  at  whose  base  one  is  walking,  suddenly  turning  over 
to  overwhelm  us,  or  its  huge  land  slide  to  rush  down  upon  us. 
Yet  saith  the  inspired  vision,  they  pray  to  the  mountains  *'  fall 
on  us,"    and  to  the  hills  "  cover  us  from  the  face  of  him 


422  THE    GOSPEL   ALARUM — ITS   BIPORT.  \ 

that  sitteth  on  the  throne."  The  most  terrific  of  conceptions 
now,  will  then  be  regarded,  in  comparison,  as  favours  to  be 
prayed  for.  Perhaps  the  most  exquisite  of  all  human  grief 
is  the  separation,  to  see  their  faces  no  more,  from  our  kindred 
according  to  the  flesh;  yet  in  that  awakening,  souls  shall 
esteem  it  the  second  best  thing  to  be  prayed  for ;  that  heaven 
will  send  and  keep  away  the  five  brethren  from  the  place  of 
torment ! 

0  think,  sleeper !  Even  though  you  cannot  think — as  a 
waking  spiritual  man — yet  dream  of  a  soul,  made  in  God's 
own  image,  with  God  for  its  great  end,  think  of  such  an  one 
waking  from  its  night  of  debauch — all  its  dreams  fled  !  All  its 
connection  with  physical  nature  cut  off,  and  it  cast  suddenly, 
a  naked,  shivering  spirit  as  a  wreck  upon  the  shore  of 
eternity.  Its  sources  of  pleasure  all  cut  off"  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  channel,  the  physical  senses.  Its  passions,  for 
want  of  anything  to  feed  upon  without,  all  turning  in,  with 
vulture  greediness,  to  prey  upon  the  soul  itself!  The  scoff- 
ers have  assured  you  that  the  gospel  hell  is  no  revelation 
from  God,  but  only  a  dream  of  the  poets.  But  the  dullest 
fancyj'peeds  no  aid  of  poets  to  conceive  of  the  horrors  of 
sucli  a  soul-waking  as  that.  In  comparison  with  the  sober 
deductions  of  reason  concerning  the  necessary  results  of  such 
a  waking,  all  the  visions  of  poets  are  but  the  feeblest  approx- 
imations. What,  in  comparison,  is  Dante's  conception  of  the 
seven  circles  of  hell  increasing  in  intensity  of  torment  down- 
ward to  the  centre  ?  Or  the  lowest  of  Milton's  "  still  lower 
deeps?"     Or  "Shakespeare's  picture  of  souls  doomed: 

To  bathe  in  fiery  floods  or  to  reside 
In  thrilling  regions  of  thick-ribbed  ice, 
To  be  imprisoned  in  the  viewless  winds, 
And  blown,  with  restless  violence,  about 
The  pendent  world  ? 

Nay  the  solemnly,  sober  figures  of  Jesus  in  the  gospel  of 


THIS  SEEN  FROM  PARTIAL  WAKxNGS  HERE.      42') 

''  the  roaring  of  the  lake  that  burncth,"  of  the  "  crackle  of 
the  fire  that  is  not  quenched,"  of  the  gnawing  of  "  the  Avorm 
that  dieth  not,"  of  "  the  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing 
of  teeth,"  seem  no  strong  figures  for  the  expression  of  such 
a  doom ! 

We  may  catch  some  faint  glimmer  of  what  the  full  soul- 
waking  must  be  from  the  partial  wakings  that  are  sometime 
seen  to  occur  this  side  of  death  ;  the  awakings  under  the 
rough  shaking  of  heart-breaking  sorrow  and  disappointment 
to  utter  despair  ;  sometimes  producing  frantic  ragings,  some- 
times a  cold,  stony  calmness  still  more  terrible  as  the  evidence 
of  hopeless  remorse.  What  agony  of  heart  comes  on  then ! 
What  litter  wreck  of  the  spirit !  The  cells  of  the  mad-house 
give  us  the  external  of  it,  but  Jesus  Christ,  the  physician  of 
the  heart  broken,  alone  can  tell  the  depths  of  that  internal 
horror ! 

I  remember  reading  in  our  journals  some  years  ago  the 
story  of  a  poor  creature,  who  half  drunk  or  wholly  drunk,  lay 
down  in  a  skiflf  on  the  Canada  shore  above  the  great  cata- 
ract ;  and,  by  the  additional  weight  in  it,  the  skiff  was  loosed 
from  its  moorings  and  floated  out  into  the  quiet  but  strong 
current.  Loud  were  the  shouts  from  either  side  when  his 
condition  was  discovered,  "  Awake  thou  sleeper,"  yet  he 
dreamed  on,  and  floated  on  smoothly,  but  every  moment 
more  and  more  swiftly;  till,  approaching  the  mighty  cataract, 
the  voice  of  its  thunders  seemed  at  last  to  wake  him,  and  he 
was  observed  to  rise  just  in  time  to  see  that  he  was  lost 
beyond  hope.  If  you  can  imagine  now  the  soul  emotions  of 
that  poor  sleeper,  as  shooting  over  the  fatal  verge  he  hung 
suspended  mid-air  for  an  instant  over  the  boiling  chasm  below, 
then  may  you  conceive  something  of  the  emotions  of  a  spirit, 
that  dreaming  floats  down  the  current  of  time,  when  suddenly 
it  wakes  by  the  plunge  into  eternity ! 

I  have  read — perhaps  in  a  discourse  of  the  pastor  Vinet 


424  THE   GOSPEL   ALARUM — ITS    IMPORT. 

already  referred  to — the  affecting  story  of  a  somnambulist, 
a  young  and  joyous  girl,  who,  in  her  sleep-walking,  issued 
through  the  sky-light  of  the  chamber  to  the  roof  of  one  of 
those  lofty  buildings  so  common  in  the  old  cities  of  Europe  ; 
and  there,  sound  asleep,  walked  and  danced  in  sight  of  an 
excited  crowd  of  passers-by  arrested  by  the  perilous  move- 
ments. Dreaming  she  seemed  to  be,  of  some  approaching 
fete,  and,  now  was  arranging  her  toilet,  standing  on  the  very 
verge  ;  now  walking  back ;  now  approaching  and  seeming  to 
look  down  upon  the  crowd  far  below,  as  calmly  as  if  from  a 
balcony.  None  dared  utter  a  word  to  wake  the  sleeper :  all 
rather  held  their  breath  in  horror.  Till  at  length,  as  she 
stood  once  more  on  the  verge,  the  flash  of  a  light  from  an 
opposite  window  falling  upon  her  eyes  suddenly  waked  her. 
A  shriek  rent  the  still  air  an  instant,  and  she  fell  to  be 
dashed  to  pieces.  The  waking  revealed  the  terrors  of  her 
position ;  and  the  terror  impelled  her  forward  to  death. 

A  faint  type  this  of  the  soul  suddenly  waked  to  this 
despair  by  a  light  from  some  Providence  of  God  falling 
upon  the  eye  of  the  gay  dreamer,  and  making  him  conscious 
of  his  true  position. 

It  must  be  so.  For  remember,  the  true  relation  of  the 
soul  to  God  and  things  infinite  can  in  no  wise  be  changed  by 
this  dreamy  sleep  w^hich  makes  it  unconscious  of  the  relation. 
True,  very  often  we  find  men  so  thoroughly  brutish  in  their 
nature  that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  such  creatures  bearing 
any  other  relation  to  God  and  the  universe  than  the  brutes 
that  perish.  We  sometimes  say  of  this  godless  and  debased 
Judas,  that  can  conceive  of  nothing  higher  in  the  way  of 
motive  than  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver, — "  he  has  no  soul ;" 
he  "  has  no  conscience."  But  he  hath  a  soul  and  a  con- 
science for  all  that.  Buried  far  down  in  the  depths  of  his 
nature,  under  all  this  moral  filth  and  mire  that  covers  up  the 
spiritual  nature  in  him,  this  Judas  hath  a  conscience.     And 


HOW   CURIST    AWAKENS    AND    GIVES    LIGHT.    425 

in  due  time,  it  may  be  before  the  full  waking  of  death,  that 
conscience  will  come  struggling,  and  gurgling  up  from  the 
depths  and  shriek  in  awful  thrones  of  despair — "  I  have 
sinned — I  have  sinned — I  have  betrayed  the  innocent 
blood"! 

And  if  such  are  the  terrors  of  the  partial  wakings,  even 
with  the  dim  and  confused  notions  of  the  relation  of  the 
immortal  nature  to  God,  and  under  the  feeble  workings  of 
conscience,  even  in  its  best  estate,  this  side  death,  what 
must  be  the  horrors  of  that  waking  as  all  the  dread  realities 
of  the  unseen  shall  burst  upon  the  soul,  and  of  the  arousing 
of  conscience  to  sleep  no  more  for  ever  ? 

But  blessed  be  God !  we  are  not  shut  up,  without 
alternative,  to  this  natural  waking  of  the  soul  at  death.  For 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  provides  for  an  effectual  waking  by 
supernatural  power  this  side  of  death,  and  for  creating  within 
us  a  waking  life  which,  imperfect  as  it  may  be  while  yet 
existing  in  the  body  of  sin  and  death,  shall  pass  on  over  death 
to  become  a  perfect  and  everlasting  life.  For  not  only  hath 
a  provision  been  made  for  taking  away  the  sin  that  brings  this 
death  stupor  on  the  soul,  but,  with  that  atonement  for  sin,  a 
power  also,  even  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  makes 
this  gospel  a  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  This  heavenly 
agent,  who  alone  can  make  his  voice  heard  by  these  sleepers, 
taking  the  things  of  Christ  shews  them  unto  them.  Jesus,  as 
represented  by  Him,  comes  now  just* as  really  and  truly  as 
when  he  came  in  the  flesh.  Scouting  over  the  Alpine  sin- 
deserts  and  finding  these  wanderers  stretched  out  on  the  sheet 
of  frost,  and  dreaming  as  death  is  treacherously  binding  them 
fast  in  his  invincible  slumber,  he  sounds  the  alarum,  shouting 
in  their  dull  ear — "  Awake  thou  slee.per"  !  "  Arise  from  the 
dead"  !  for  death  is  upon  thee  ! 

III.  And  now  is  made  apparent  the  distinguishing  glory  of 
the  gospel  alarum.      It  not  only  arouses  the  sleeper  to  his 


423  THE    GOSPEL  ALARUM — ITS   IMPORT. 

impending  danger — which  is  a  cheap  enough  act  of  humanitj 
that  even  the  instincts  of  nature  would  prompt — but  makes 
the  tender  of  effective  aid  to  utter  helplessness — ''  ItviU  give 
thee  light. ^''  Finding  the  poor  wanderer  bewildered  and  in 
darkness  as  he  shakes  off  the  stupor,  instead  of  leaving  him 
there  to  perish,  this  kind  friend  saith,  "  Come,  I  will  light  thee 
through  the  darkness  and  will  guide  thee  to  safe  shelter.  I 
will  lead  the  blind  in  a  w^ay  that  they  know  not." 

It  is  just  here  that  all  the  ethical  gospels,  and  moral  power 
gospels,  and  rationalistic  gospels,  of  human  device  in  their 
origin,  or  counterfeits  of  the  true  gospel,  completely  break 
down.  Whatever  dispute  there  may  be  wdiether  their  voice 
hath  ever  had  power  to  awake  a  soul  truly,  there  can  be  no 
dispute  as  to  their  powerlessness  to  aid  the  perishing  soul  once 
it  is  truly  awake.  Your  arguments  of  the  beauty  and 
propriety  of  virtue  and  the  unwisdom  of  a  life  of  sin  ;  your 
rules  iov  the  guidance  of  life  by  a  vigorous  discipline  ;  your 
arguments  of  the  rectitude  of  God's  moral  government  in 
punishing  sin — all  your  ethics  and  disciplines  and  natural 
theologies  are  well  enough  in  their  place.  And  the  moralities, 
which  good  government  requires  to  be  observed  in  order  to 
attain  the  favour  of  God,  may  be  all  proper  enough,  but  of 
what  avail  to  a  poor  soul  with  the  drowsiness  of  this  death 
stupor  upon  it  ? 

Your  gospels  that,  ignoring  the  depravity  of  fallen  man  and 
the  death  stupor  that  is  upon  him,  play  physician  to  them  that 
are  whole  and  not  to  them  that  are  sick,  may  ceach  clearly 
enough  in  what  way  an  unfallen  nature  may  secure  God's 
favour ;  but  are  of  little  use  for  directing  awakened  sinners. 
The  preachers  of  the  old-fashioned  moral  gospels  were  good 
enough  guide-boards  at  the  cross-roads  to  point  out  the  road 
to  heaven,  to  those  that  have  the  power  of  spiritual  locomo- 
tion. But  of  wiiat  use  a  guide  board  to  a  poor  cripple  lying 
at  its  foot  powerless  to  move  !     The  preachers  of  the  trana- 


EOW  CHRIST   AWAKENS   AND   GIVES   LIGHT.    42T 

cendcntal  ethics  who  have  succeeded  them  have  only  added 
to  the  difiSculty  by  writing  the  inscriptions  on  the  guide - 
board  in  a  language  that  none  but  the  initiated  can  ever  read. 
Much  after  the  fashion  of  a  waggish  guide-board  that  I 
remember  in  the  valley  of  Virginia,  which  excited  first  the 
wonder,  and  then  the  mirth  of  childhood  by  its  inscription — 
*'  To  Bunker  Hill  tivo  miles.  ISf.B.  If  you  canH  read,  ask  at 
the  tavern,^'  Of  what  possible  use  to  the  great  masses  of  the 
people,  whose  thought  and  speech  are  limited  to  the  every- 
day vernacular,  these  exquisite  essays  in  ethics  and  aesthetics 
from  men  who  pretend  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Jesus  ? 

"  I^cill  give  thee  lighV^  is  the  offer  of  Jesus.  It  is  one  of 
the  various  forms  of  expressing  the  offer  of  grace  and  salva- 
tion of  v*hich  there  is  such  a  variety  in  the  gospel.  For  the 
forms  of  the  offer  are  varied  to  suit  the  different  phases  of 
that  state  of  soul  when  a  consciousness  of  its  sad  condition  is 
awakened  in  it;  each  one  implying  all  the  others.  Here  it 
takes  the  form  of  the  offer  of  light  with  reference  to  the  dark- 
•ness  of  a  soul  awakened  out  of  its  night  slumber  by  the 
sounding  of  the  gospel  alarum.  That  is  one  of  the  most  vivid 
and  impressive  of  all  the  gospel  descriptions  of  the  work  of  the 
tioly  Spirit,  in  the  renewal  of  a  soul,  which  makes  it  analo- 
gous to  the  work  of  the  spirit  at  creation,  moving  upon  the 
chaos,  and  bringing  all  to  order,  as  God  said  "Let  light  be  ; 
and  light  was."  Saith  the  Apostle,  "  God  who  caused  hght 
to  shine  out  of  darkness  hath  shined  into  our  hearts,  to  give 
the  light  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Nor  can  we  better  conceive  of  the  nature  of  the  spirit's  work 
in  those  cases  of  light  suddenly  breaking  in  upon  the  awakened 
soul,  than  by  recalling  the  impression  upon  ourselves  of  the 
magnificent  description,  of  God's  work  in  the  Oratorio  of 
"  Creation."  Recall  how  with  full  orchestra  the  huge  dis- 
cords describe,  first  the  chaos,  "  without  form  and  void  and 
darkness  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,"  until  the  very  soul  is  all 


428  THE    GOSPEL    ALARUM — ITS   IMPORT. 

-unnerved  and  in  utter  disorder.  Tlien  how  the  single  sweet 
voice  carols  forth  "  God  said  let  there  be" — returning  and 
.repeating  as  if  afraid  to  pronounce  the  word  of  command — 
till  the  whole  force  engaged,  as  if  catching  the  inspiration 
'  chimes  in,  shouting  in  thunders  of  sweetest  harmony  ''  Light " 
''Light"  '' Let  there  be  light"— till  light  seems  to  gleam 
from  every  tone  of  the  hundred-voiced  choir  ;  light  from  every 
note  of  the  pealing  organ  ;  light  from  loud  trumpet  and  silver- 
toned  bugle  and  soft-breathing  flute ;  and  the  very  atmos- 
phere becomes  a  sea  of  effulgent  glory. 

Thus  it  is  when,  the  voice  of  Christ  heard  and  his  offer  of 
light  accepted,  the  soul  at  once  is  filled  "  with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory." 

But  the  experience  of  his  promise  fulfilled  is  not  always 
this  sudden  breaking  in  of  light  as  when  God  first  called 
light  out  of  darkness.  The  analogy  would  rather  be  that 
.causing  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness  by  the  operation  of 
the  laws  which  he  had  ordained  for  his  great  work  when 
finished ;  as  we  may  conceive  it  to  have  dawned  that  first, 
sabbath  morning  iii  the  beautiful  regions  where  he  afterward 
^'  planted  the  garden  eastward  in  Eden."  First  the  faint 
streaks  of  light  in  the  east  detaching  the  horizon  from  the 
dark  line  of  the  mountains.  Then  the  mountain  tops  tinged 
with  light.  Next  "the  sun  coming  forth  out  of  his  chamber, 
rejoicing  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race" — then  the  shadows 
dropping  down  the  mountain  sides,  and  the  light  penetrating 
the  deep  gorges.  Till  now  light  seems  to  engender  light  and 
all  nature  lies  basking  in  the  smile  of  its  Maker  as  he  pro- 
nounces all  very  good.  This  is  the  gradual  coming  into  the 
soul  of  that  "  peace  of  God  that  passeth  understanding." 
And  it  is  not  less  surely  the  supernatural  work  of  the  Spirit 
on  the  soul,  than  when  the  light  breaks  suddenly  in  upon  the 
darkness.  For  just  so  Jesus  illustrates  to  us  his  methods  in 
iis  miracles  <^f  restoring  the  blind  man.     In  one  case,  he 


URGENCY  &  IIASTEFULXESS  OF  TUE  GOSrEL  CALL.    42V> 

simply  speaks  the  word  of  power  and  the  eyes  are  openec!, 
and,  in  a  moment,  the  glorious  light  of  heaven  rushes  in. 
In  another  case,  he  uses  external  means,  and  at  first  the- 
blind  man  sees,  indistinctly,  "  men  as  trees  walking. '' 
But  both  cases  are  equally  acts  of  his  divine  power. 

IV.  One  word  as  to  the  hasteful  and  urgent  manner  of 
this  call.  In  this  alarum,  coming  as  the  fire  cry  in  the  night 
— "Awake  thou  that  sleepest,"  you  have  the  true  type  of 
all  gospel  invitation.  This  is  seen  in  the  various  forms  of 
express  call.  "  Escape  for  thy  life,  Look  not  behind  thee, 
Tarry  not  in  all  the  plain !  Escape  to  the  mountains  lest  thou 
be  consumed."  "  To  day  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden 
not  your  hearts."  "  Now  is  the  accepted  time."  "  Behold 
now  is  the  day  of  salvation."  But,  besides  all  this,  you  will 
find  that  every  invitation  given  ;  every  tender  of  his  salvation  ; 
every  statement  of  its  terms ;  implies  that  it  is  now  to  be 
accepted.  Not  in  all  the  word  of  God  is  there  an  invitation, 
to  come  to-morrow :  nor  a  statement  of  the  terms  that  guaran- 
tees you  those  terms  to-morrow. 

Listen  then  to  this  call,  and,  if  its  appeals  reach  the  dull 
ear  of  the  soul,  spring  up  at  once  and  shake  ofi"  the  slumber. 
Say  not  a  "  a  httle  more  sleep,  a  little  more  slumber,  a  little 
more  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep"  !  Remember  that  the 
sleeper  who  is  roused,  and  then  falls  back,  only  sleeps  more 
soundly  than  before  !  Say  not  wait,  wait,  while  time  waits 
not,  and  the  current  that  carries  thee  onward  to  the  abyss 
waits  not,  but  becomes  every  moment  fleeter  !  Stay  not  to 
quarrel  and  debate  about  the  terms,  or  the  manner  of  the 
arousing.  Stay  not,  pleading  your  powerlessness  to  move  till 
God  moves  thee.  Dream  not  of  miracles,  where  God  hath 
appointed  means !  Lie  not  still  waiting  for  God  to  compel 
thee  to  move,  for  he  will  have  a  wilHng  service.  Expose  not 
thyself  to  all  the  soul  temptations  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and. 
the  Devil,  expecting  God  to  make  thee    world-proof,  flesh- 


430  THE    GOSPEL    ALARUM — ITS   IMPORT. 

proof,  Devil-proof:  Take  not  the  viper  to  your  bosom  and 
■expect  God  to  charm  it  that  it  sting  not :  Tamper  not  with 
the  poison  cup,  and  look  to  God  to  neutralize  the  deadly 
draught :  "  Awake  thou  sleeper  "  and  bestir  thyself.  It  is 
Christ  calling  and  pointing  thee  to  shelter  and  refuge ;  with 
the  light  in  his  hand  to  lead  thee  thither.  Turn  not  back  to 
thine  idle  dreams,  lest  thou  be  left  to  that  dreadful  waking 
where  there  shall  be  none  to  aid  thee  forever ! 


SECTION  VI 


EEDEMPTION   AS    PROCLAIMED    BY    JESUS   ASCEXDED ;  COX- 
FIRMING  ALL  THAT  HAD  BEEX  REVEALED  AT  THE 
"  SUNDRY  TIMES  AND  IN  DIVERS  MANNERS  " 


DISCOURSE  XX. 

THE    GOSPEL    ADAPTED    TO    THE    CONSCIOUS    WANTS    OF    THE 
HUMAN   SOUL- 

Rcvclation  xxii.  16-18. — I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  Davi:5. 
and  the  bright  and  morning  star.  And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  come 
And  let  him  that  beareth  say,  come.  And  let  bim  that  is  atbirst  come. 
And  whosoever  will,  let  bim  take  the  water  of  life  frecljv'.  For  I  testify 
unto  every  man  that  beareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  If  any 
man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that 
are  written  in  this  book. 

This  remarkable  gospel  of  invitation  ^'  The  Spirit  and  tlie 
Bride  say  come,''  has  a  very  peculiar  significancj,  mj 
brethren,  alike  from  tuhenee  it  is,  from  where  it  is,  and  from 
ivhat  it  is.  As  to  the  tvhence,  it  is  a  message  of  Jesus,  back 
to  the  sinners  of  earth,  for  whom  •'  he  endured  the  cross, 
despising  the  shame,"  and  comes  from  tlie  throne  of  all  power 
to  which,  sixty  years  before,  he  had  ascended,  carrying  the 
humanity  with  him  ;  and  after  his  finished  sacrifice,  and 
completed  scheme  of  redemption,  as  developed  in  the  new 
covenant  of  his  blood,  had  been  already  proclaimed  by  his 
inspired  Apostles  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  known  world. 
But  though  now  on  his  throne  there  is  no  abatement  of  his 


432  GOSPEL  WATER  OF  LIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL. 

interest  in  that  wonderful  scheme  of  redemption,  which  he 
had  been  gradually  developing,  through  the  revelations  "  of 
sundry  times  and  divers  manners,"  under  successive  covenants- 
for  four  thousand  years.  Referring  to  the  last  of  these 
covenants,  organizing  the  typical  kingdom  under  David^  he 
proclaims  himself  "  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,"  now 
enthroned  in  the  heavens  as  the  ''bright  morning  star"  for 
whose  rising  faith  had  longed  through  all  the  darkness  of 
prophecy.  And,  in  full  view  of  the  scheme  completed  by  the 
offering  of  the  sacrifice  once  for  all ;  of  the  outpouring  of 
his  Spirit ;  of  the  complete  opening  of  the  new  and  last  era 
of  redemption ;  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit ;  of  the 
historic  faith,  now  substituting  facts  actual  for  the  types  and 
symbols  of  prophecy ;  and  of  the  Church  of  one  nation,  under 
the  old  covenant  with  Abraham,  become  the  Church  of  all 
nations  under  the  new  covenant,  he  utters  this  last  gospel  as 
the  climax  of  all  the  gospels  "vvhich  God  had  revealed  through 
the  prophets— through  his  Incarnate  Son— and  through  the 
Apostles. 

This  then  is  the  gospel  according  to  Jesus  ascended, 
delivered  after  his  complete  scheme  of  salvation  had  for  sixty 
years  been  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment.  It  is 
therefore  peculiarly  to  our  dispensation.  It  is  the  peculiar 
type  of  that  Gospel  which,  without  symbol  or  altar,  or  limit  of 
nation,  is  to  be  preached  till  his  second  coming. 

So  also  it  is  significant,  from  ivliere  it  is,  in  the  series  of 
recorded  revelations.  It  is  the  last  paragraph,  of  the  last 
chapter,  of  the  last  book,  of  God's  revealed  word.  For  you 
will  observe  that,  immediately  upon  its  utterance  and  record, 
that  great  seal — written  all  over,  with  curses  against  him,  who 
shall  by  a  single  w^ord  add  to,  or  subtract  from  the  revelation 
here  finished — closes  up  finally  the  communications  from 
heaven.  That  it  is  such  a  general  closing  up  of  the  whole 
volume  of  inspiration,  and  not  merely  applicable  to  this  last 


WHENCE;,  WHERE  FOUND  AND  WHAT,  THIS  .MESSAGE.  433 

book,  is  manifest  from  the  fact  that  while  all  previous  revela- 
tions  at   the   sundry   times   closed   with    a    call  for   other 
revelations  to  follow  them,  this  closes  with  no  call  for  more  to 
follow.     Mosjs  called  for  ''  a  prophet  like  unto  him,"  whom 
they  should  hear.     David  and  the  prophets  all  call  for  more 
glorious  revelations  to  follow.     Malachi  closes  up    the  Old 
Testament  with  a  call  for  the  coming  of  the  "  Messenger  of 
the  covenant"  to  develop  the  old  covenants  still  more  clearly. 
Jesus,  when  ascending,  called  for  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  lead  his  Apostles  into  all  truth,  and  commissioned 
them  to  speak  still  further  in  his  name.     Now  the  last  survi- 
ving of  these  xipostles,  having  traced  on  the  prophetic  chart 
the  history  of  this  last  dispensation  down  to  Christ's  second 
coming  to  judgment,  without  any  notice  of  any  more  revela- 
tions to  come  through  all  this  era,  closes  up  the  communica- 
tions from  heaven  by  calling  for  no  more  but  placing  upon  the 
record  this  tremendous  seal.     All  Mohammed  Korans,    all 
Saints'  legends  of  visions,  and  revelations,  and  miracles — all 
Swedenborg  dreams  and  communications  with  heaven — all 
Mormon  appendices,  all  stupid  revelations,  rapped  or  written 
by  silly  spirits,  are  hereby  anticipated,  excluded,  denounced 
and  threatened  with  ail  the  curses  written  in  God's  book. 
But  before  that  great  seal  shall  finally  close  communication, 
Jesus  has  one  more  last  word  to  say.     In  every  conceivable 
form  of  assurance  and  invitation,  he  had  called  sinners  through 
all   the    divers  manner  of  his  revelations   before — yet  still 
yearning  to  see  the  travail  of  his  soul,  his  love  seems  to  stay 
the  ^and  that  is  putting  on  the  seal,  that  it  may  first  insert 
one  more  invitation  and  assurance,  lest  some  poor  dark-minded 
sinner  should  still  despond  and  despair.     And  so  there  was 
crowded  in  this  last  gospel,  under  the  very  seal  itself  that 
closes  communication. 

And  wdicn  we  consider  ichat  it  is,  we  must  confess  it  to  be 
infinitely  worthy  of  the  source  whence  it  comes,  and  the  place 


434  GOSPEL  WATER  OF  LIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL. 

where  it  stands  as  the  climax  of  all  the  gospel  revelations. 
"Stay,"  the  ascended  Jesus  seems  to  say  :  "  Put  not  on  the 
cursing  seal,  till  there  first  be  put  in  one  more  gospel  assur- 
ance and  invitation.  And  make  it  wide  as  human  thought 
can  possibly  conceive  of  it :  plain  as  human  language  can 
possibly  utter  it :  and  cordial  as  the  heart  of  God  alone  can 
give  it.  Assure  them  from  me,  David's  creator,  and  yet,  as 
the  offspring  of  David,  Mieir  brother,  partaker  of  flesh  and 
blood  :  assure  them  from  me,  the  Day-star  of  all  their  longings, 
now,  beyond  all  dispute  risen,  and  enthroned  in  the  heaven — 
that  the  fountain  of  life  is  now  thrown  wide  open,  and  its 
streams  are  gushing  forth  in  all  their  infinite  fulness,  witli 
every  barrier  of  approach  to  it  absolutely  taken  away.  Tell 
them  that  not  only  have  they  leave  to  come,  but  every  loving 
voice  in  heaven  and  earth,  pleads  and  urges  them  to  come. 
That  my  Spirit  whispers  to  the  depths  of  their  spirits,  saying, 
"  Come."  That  my  bride,  the  Church,  in  all  her  divinely 
appointed  ordinances  cries  "Come"  !  "  Come."  Nay  more, 
lest  it  be  in  highways  and  hedges  where  there  should  be  no 
Church  ordinances  to  reach  any  one,  every  sinner  that  heareth 
my  voice  himself,  is  authorized  to  say  to  any  other  sinner, 
"  Come."  Nay  more,  lest  there  should  be  no  such  sinner  to 
invite  him — tell  any  soul  that  feels  the  thirst  not  to  stand  on 
ceremony,  but,  self-invited,  "  Come."  Nay  more  still — lest 
now  some  poor  sin-darkened  soul  should  stumble  at  the  word 
"  athirst,"  and  doubt  if  his  thirst  is  real  or  great  enough — 
strike  out  even  that,  and  say  absolutely — "  wJiosoever  will, 
let  him  tak3  of  the  water  of  fife  freely."  I  will  be  the 
Saviour  of  ;  ny  that  will  have  me  for  a  Saviour.  Only  let 
him  cry  in  his  despair,  "  0  Lamb  of  God  I  come — just  as  I 
am." 

Brethren,  I  may  well  shrink  from  the  task  of  developing 
this  gospel  according  to  Jesus  ascended,  when  I  find  all 
human  conceptions  and  human  language  breaking  down  in 


WHAT   IS    THE    IMPORT    OF    "  WATER   OF   LIFE,"    435 

tlic  attempt  to  utter  the  infinite  fulness  and  freeness  of  a 
Saviours  love.  Yet  I  may  assist  you  in  forming  some  con- 
ception of  the  great  truths  embodied  in  these  beautiful 
approximations  and  figures,  by  answering  for  you  these 
questions — 

1.  What  ideas  arc  involved  in  this  figure  of  "  the 
water  of  life  ?  " 

2.  What  ideas  in  the  correlative  figure  "  thirst  ?  " 

3.  What  causes  develop  the  consciousness  of  this  thirst 
in  the  soul  ? 

4.  On  what  terms  may  the  soul  conscious  of  it  have  the 
thirst  quenched  ? 

5.  By  what  agencies  is  the  soul  athirst  brought  to  the 
waters  of  life  ? 

I.  As  suggesting  at  once  the  answer  to  the  first  inquiry,  it 
is  needful  only  to  remind  you  that,  in  all  the  eras  of  revelation 
and  under  all  the  covenants,  the  famihar  symbol  for  the 
redemption  provided  by  Christ  is  this  of  the  living  waters  to 
quench  the  spiritual  thirst :  Under  the  old  covenant  with 
Abraham,  the  salvation  guaranteed  in  it  was  symbolized  to  the 
Church  in  the  desert  by  the  stream  that  gushed  from  the 
smitten  Rock  in  Horeb,  and  followed  them  in  all  their  wan- 
derings. For,  saith  the  Apostle,  "  They  drank  of  that  spiritual 
Rock  that  followed  them :  and  that  Rock  was  Christ." 
Under  the  covenant  with  David  the  Church  was  taught  to 
sing  in  her  liturgy,  "  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  0  God."  Isaiah 
three  centuries  later,  after  presenting  in  prophetic  visions  the 
scenes  of  the  cross  and  the  exaltation  that  should  follow, 
predicts  this  very  gospel  of  Jesus  ascended,  saying — "  Ho 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  even  he  that 
hath  no  money."  Seven  hundred  years  later,  on  the  great 
day  of  the  feast,  as  the  priest  dipped  up  water  with  the 
golden  pitcher,  and  poured  it  upon  the  altar,  while  the  vast 


436  GOSPEL  WATER  OFLIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OFTHE  SOUL. 

multitudes  inarched  around  in  procession,  singing  from  Isaiah— 
"  With  joy  shall  we  draw  water  from  tho  wells  of  salvation" 
— Jesus  stood  and  cried  saying,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him 
come  to  me  and  drink."  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  this  is 
confirmatory  of  all  the  old  gospels,  and  that  in  all  cases  this 
symbol  of  the  water  for  the  spiritual  thirst  has  reference  to 
the  work  of  Christ  in  his  incarnation,  death,  and  resurrection. 
It  is  a  poetic  synonym  for  "  Christ  crucified,"  the  one  great 
idea  of  the  whole  revelation.  For,  above  all  books,  the  bible 
is  a  book  of  one  idea :  and  hence  this  tendency  to  those 
magnificent  generalizations  that  sum  up  and  concentrate  its 
essence  in  a  single  sentence  or  phrase  ;  as,  "  when  I  see  tho 
blood  I  will  pass  over" — "  we  preach  Christ  crucified."  And 
readily  enough  may  the  gospel  be  thus  summed  up,  since  it  is 
this  death  of  Jesus  as  an  atoning  sacrifice  which  gives  its 
significance  to  every  paragraph  of  the  bible  as  the  living  word 
of  God.  Just  as,  in  the  physical  structure,  the  heart  is  the 
seat  of  its  life,  and  the  blood  driven  from  the  heart  to  the 
extremities,  is  all  that  makes  them  living  flesh,  rather  than  so 
much  dead  clay  :  so  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  heart  of 
the  revealed  word  of  God,  and  the  blood  driven  from  the 
cross  into  every  sentence  and  word  of  it  is  that  which  gives 
them  their  life,  as  the  word  of  God  instinct  with  living  truth. 
Nothing  therefore  can  be  more  absurd  than  the  very 
fashionable  form  of  Deism,  which  pretends,  while  accepting 
the  character  of  Jesus  as  perfect,  to  separate  what  it  calls 
the  beautiful  morality  of  Jesus  from  the  gospel  theology  of 
atonement,  so  ofiensive  to  the  wisdom  of  this  world.  It  is  but 
a  gospel  of  Jesus  with  the  part  of  Jesus  omitted.  For  it  is 
the  theology  of  Jesus,  the  atoning  sacrifice,  which  imparts  all 
its  vitality  to  the  morahty  of  Jesus  as  a  law  to  the  conscience. 
Deism  may  indeed  carve  out  of  the  gospel  a  beautiful  ethical 
system  ;  but  when  the  work  is  v  done,  it  stands  forth  only  as 
the  marble  smitten  by  the  chisel  of  genius  into  the  beautiful 


THE  IMPORT  OF  THE  TERM  "  ATHIRST."   437 

form  of  the  living  being,  cold  and  lifeless  as  beautiful !  Unita- 
rianism  may  carve  out  of  the  oracles  of  God  an  elegant  struc- 
ture of  natural  religion  ;  but  when  the  work  is  done,  it  stands 
forth  a  merely  beautifully  carved  earthen  vessel  to  contain 
the  living  waters ;  but,  with  no  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ, 
there  is  no  water  of  life  for  the  thirsty  soul  therein. 

"  Tlie  water  of  life,"  therefore,  which  this  gospel  of  Jesus 
ascended  proclaims,  as  now  accessible  to  all,  means  that  pro- 
vision for  the  everlasting  life  secured  in  the  obedience  and 
atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ  for  sinners.  It  is  here  as  elsewhere 
a  generalizing  formula,  expressive  of  that  scheme  of  grace, 
which,  contemplating  man  as  fallen  from  the  lofty  estate  of 
holiness,  conscious  of  guilt,  and  spiritually  impotent,  provides 
for  taking  away  the  guilt,  clothing  the  sinner  in  a  righteous- 
ness wrought  out  for  him,  and  renewing  and  restoring  his 
nature  by  divine  power. 

II.  Accordingly,  the  wants  of  the  soul  for  which  the  gospel 
provides  are  expressed  by  the  term  which  forms  the  second 
subject  of  our  inquiry,  the  correlative  figure  ^'  Athirst^' — 
"  let  him  that  is  athirst  come."  It  is  peculiar  to  the  gospel, 
in  all  its  forms  of  revelation,  that  it  assumes  the  existence, 
more  or  less  conscious,  in  the  human  soul,  of  wants  for  which 
it  makes  provision  ;  of  disease  for  which  it  provides  a  remedy  ; 
of  a  guilty  conscience  for  which  it  provides  peace  ;  of  spiritual 
hunger  for  which  it  gives  the  bread  of  life  ;  of  a  thirst  in  the 
soul  for  which  it  is  the  water  of  life.  And  on  whatever  other 
evidences  of  its  divine  origin  the  learned  and  philosophical 
may  rest  their  faith  in  it  as  divine,  the  great  practical  evi- 
dence on  which  the  gospel  itself  rests  its  claim  to  be  divine,  is 
that  it  meets  the  conscious  wants  of  the  human  soul — an 
argument  which  tho  ignorant  and  the  learned  can  alike  com- 
prehend. The  greater  part  of  those  truths  which  constitute 
natural  rehgion — as  the  existence  of  God,  the  immortality  cf 
the  soul — are  assumed  bv  the  gospel  to  be  already  known 


438  GOSPEL  WATER  OFLIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OFTIIE  SOUL. 

and  felt  to  be  true  bj  every  man  ;  and  therefore  are  assumed 
as  the  basis  of  its  offers,  rather  than  made  the  subjects  of 
demonstration  bj  proof  and  reasoning.  Assuming  that  every 
man  in  earnest  must  feel  that  there  is  a  God,  the  judge  and 
the  rewarder  of  every  man  according  to  his  works ;  that  the 
soul  shall  continue  to  exist,  and  that  there  must  follow  a 
retribution  for  the  sins  of  the  present  life  ;  that  the  moral 
nature  of  man  is  diseased  and  its  powers  enfeebled — the 
gospel  proposes  to  expound  the  attributes  of  God,  and  his 
relations  to  the  sinner  ;  to  unfold  the  causes  of  the  souFs  dis- 
ease, and  the  terrors  of  conscience  ;  and  to  point  out  the 
infallible  remedy  both  for  the  guilt,  and  the  helplessness  of 
man.  In  other  words  to  provide  a  water  of  life  for  the  soul, 
of  which  '^  he  that  drinketh  shall  never  thirst,  but  it  shall  be 
in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  unto  everlasting  life." 

Nor  should  w^e  limit  this  thirst  of  the  soul,  in  our  concep- 
tions of  it,  to  that  special  state  of  conviction  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  makes  men  wilHng  in  the  effectual  call  to  salva- 
tion; though  indeed,  that  is  the  only  "thirst"  which  ever 
truly  leads  man  to  the  water  of  life.  In  a  very  important 
sense  this  thirst  may  be  said  to  belong  to  humanity  at  large, 
and  evinces  itself  in  impulses  of  the  natural  man  under  the 
ordinary  movements  of  the  Spirit.  As  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  the  interposition  of  Jesus,  the  Saviour,  affects  the 
whole  race,  and  a  sense  in  which,  as  the  consequence  of  his. 
interposition,  the  Holy  Ghost  moves  upon  humanity  at  large 
preventing  the  utter  extinction  of  its  spiritual  faculties,  and 
thereby  its  utter  degradation  to  a  brutal  devilishness  as  the 
result  of  its  subjugation  by  Satan  and  the  fall :  So  there  is  a 
general  sense,  in  which  all  men  "  thirst,"  for  some  such 
"  water  of  life,"  as  the  gospel  provides.  Dr.  Trench,  in  his 
Hulsean  Lectures  on  "  Christ,  the  desire  of  all  nations,"  has 
illustrated  with  great  force  and  learning,  how  humanity,  in 
all  ages  anterior  to  the  incarnation,  evinced  this  longing  for 


THE  IMPORT  OF  THE  TERM  ^^  ATUIRST."    430 

some  such  provision  as  the  gospel  makes  for  its  moral  and 
spiritual  necessities,  in  the  incarnation,  death,  and  ascension 
of  Jesus.  How  all  its  mythologies,  all  its  sacrificial  ritual, 
all  its  assthctic  culture,  all  its  philosophic  speculations,  were 
but  so  many  unconscious  prophecies  and  longings  of  humanity 
for  a  divine-human  prophet,  priest  and  king.  And  I  need 
only  remind  you  how  the  objects  of  heathen  worship  were 
ever  either  gods  made  men,  or  men  made  gods  ;  thereby 
signifying  their  conception  that  the  relief  of  humanity  must 
come  from  some  junction  of  the  divine  with  the  human 
nature.  How  their  Hercules  and  Orpheus  stories,  and  many 
stories  of  their  class  hint  at  their  conception  that  their  deliv- 
erer must  somehow  vanquish  death  and  the  grave,  the  great 
enemy  of  the  race.  How  their  sacrificial  altars,  even  flowing 
with  blood  to  expiate  sin,  and  appease  the  wrath  of  oficnded 
divinity,  evinced  their  conception  of  the  substituting  for  the 
forfeited  life  of  the  ofifender,  the  "  life  which  is  in  the  blood  '' 
of  the  victim.  How  their  most  beautiful  conceptions  of  the 
genius  of  sculpture  were  the  results  of  efforts  to  set  forth 
divine  beings  in  the  form  of  humanity.  How  the  loftiest  con- 
ceptions of  their  philosophy  were  in  the  efforts  to  devise  some 
power  which  should  elevate  and  restore  from  their  feebleness 
the  moral  and  spiritual  powers  which  they  recognized  in  human 
nature.  What  are  all  these  but  so  many  utterances  of  that 
inward  tldrst  of  the  general  spirit  of  humanity  for  something 
analogous  to  that  which  the  gospel  provides  ? 

Indeed  we  might  at  once  illustrate  and  demonstrate  the 
co-relation  between  the  gospel  doctrines  and  the  necessities 
of  human  nature  from  the  modern  speculative  philosophy  no 
less  than  the  ancient,  as  related  to  the  revealed  theology. 
For  so  intimate  will  be  found  the  logical  relation,  that  false 
systems  of  theology  uniformly  lead  to  false  theories  of  the 
philosophy  of  human  nature  ;  and  false  philosophies  of  human 
nature  lead,  more  or  less  immediately,  to  false  systems  of 
theology 


440  GOSPEL  WATER  OF  LIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL. 

The  modern  neologists  have  seized  upon  this  general  cor- 
respondence between  the  gospel  and  the  longings  of  humanity 
in  all  ages,  as  evinced  in  its  mythologies  and  sacrificial  rituals, 
as  a  point  of  assault  upon  the  gospel's  claim  to  have  had  a 
higher  than  human  origin.  With  elaborate  learning  they 
have  gathered  and  analyzed  the  poetic  myths  of  the  religions 
of  all  countries  and  ages,  to  show  us  how  these  conceptions 
of  a  divine-human  deliverer,  of  an  atonement  for  sin,  of  a 
victory  over  death,  and  of  a  renewal  and  restoration  of 
human  nature,  have  ever  flitted  as  shadows  before  the  imag- 
ination, or  have  been  dreamed  as  beautiful  dreams  by  the 
poetic  souls  of  the  world  in  all  ages.  Therefore,  say  they, 
the  gospel  of  Christ  is  only  a  step  in  advance,  a  condensation 
of  the  shadows  into  more  definite  shape.  Now  we  admit  the 
premise  of  fact,  but  reason  to  precisely  the  opposite  conclu- 
sion that  instead  of  being  a  shadow,  because  the  soul  thirst 
of  the  world  had  created  shadows  before,  this  must  be  the 
reality  and  the  substance  which  cast  the  shadows.  For  the 
shadow  cannot  exist  without  the  substance  to  cause  it.  And 
as,  when  looking  down  into  the  smooth  waters  of  the  lake  — : 
see,  far  below,  the  trees,  and  green  meadow,  and  flocks  feed- 
ing upon  it,  we  infer,  without  looking  up  for  the  proof,  that 
though  all  we  see  is  shadow,  yet  the  shadow  is  there  because 
the  reality  is  above ;  so  when  we  contemplate  these  shadows 
reflected  to  the  vision  of  the  human  soul,  during  all  time,  we 
infer  that  some  reality,  somewhere  causes  the  shadows  to 
exist ;  and  when  now  we  find,  m  this  revelation  of  Jesus,  the 
counterpart  of  all  these  shadowy  conceptions,  as  great  facts, 
substantially  existing,  we  naturally  conclude  that  the  exist- 
ence of  such  facts  has  caused  the  shadows. 

A  story  of  our  early  colonial  times  in  America  illustrates 
our  argument.  It  is  the  story  of  the  pilgrim  colonists  still 
dependent  on  the  mother  country  for  their  food,  reduced,  by 
the  long  delay  of  the  supply  vessel,  to  the  very  verge  of 


THE   IMPORT   OF   THE    TERM   "  ATIIIRST.  441 

starvation.  Day  after  day,  ^ye  are  told,  they  stood  on  the 
beach  straining  their  eyes  in  vain ;  and  night  after  night, 
prayed  in  agony  for  its  coming.  Till  one  evening,  as  they 
gazed,  behold,  far  out  at  sea,  they  discovered  the  image  of  a 
vessel,  just  such  as  they  expected,  painted  far  off  on  the 
eastern  sky,  though  no  ship  was  within  their  horizon.  They 
received  it  as  a  token  from  heaven  in  answer  to  their  prayer, 
sent  that  their  faith  might  not  fail ;  and  in  a  day  or  two,  the 
long  wished-for  vessel,  just  such  in  appearance  as  the  image 
on  the  sky,  came,  bringing  them  relief.  The  simple-minded 
colonists  devoutly  believed  that,  supernaturally,  God  had 
given  them  a  sign  to  cheer  their  desponding  faith.  But  as 
discoveries  in  the  science  of  optics  advanced,  the  philosophers 
found  an  explanation  of  the  image  of  the  ship  on  the  sky, 
in  the  laws  of  refraction,  by  which,  in  certain  conditions  of 
atmosphere,  images  of  real  objects  by  the  refraction  of  the 
sun's  rays  may  be  cast  in  the  air,  and  thereby  become  visible, 
even  when  the  object  itself  is  below  the  horizon.  And  now 
the  pilgrim  story  became  a  subject  of  dispute — some  still 
holding  that  the  vision  of  the  ship  was  a  supernatural  answer  to 
their  prayers  ;  others  that  it  was  a  creation  of  their  imagina- 
tion under  the  terrible  excitement  of  famine  ;  others  that  it 
was  but  the  operation  of  ordinary  natural  law.  But  a  few 
summers  since,  the  question  received  a  solution  that  left  little 
room  for  debate.  The  crowd  of  visitors  on  the  beach  at  a 
celebrated  sea-bathing  resort,  looking  out  to  sea,  beheld  on 
the  sky  an  image  so  distinct  that  they  recognised  it  as  the 
steamer  '•  Asia,"  from  Europe,  not  yet  due  by  two  days. 
And  by  means  of  the  telegraph,  the  whole  continent  was 
informed  of  the  phenomena,  so  that  the  people  everywhere 
might  note  for  themselves  whether  the  coming  of  that  par- 
ticular vessel  would  verify  the  prophetic  shadow.  And  sure 
enough,  at  the  expected  time,  the  "Asia"  came.  From 
the  real  object,  far  below  the  horizon,  the  sun  had  painted 


442  GOSPEL  T\'ATER  CFLIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL- 

the  beautiful  image  on  the  sky.  Now,  ia  like  manner,  we 
argue  it  was  neither  a  supernatural  revelation  from  their 
gods,  nor  a  mere  delusion  of  excited  imagination  which  caused, 
this  vision  of  the  deliverer  of  humanity  in  the  souls  most, 
conscious  of  the  soul-thirst  among  the  heathen.  It  was  the 
shadow  projected  on  the  soul's  horizon  by  the  real  object  yet 
far  below  its  horizon  of  vision.  It  was  the  gospel  '•  Asia  " 
coming  in,  freighted  with  the  bread  of  life  and  the  water  of 
life  for  famishing  spirits. 

The  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  claims  indeed  to  be  the  "  great 
mystery  of  godliness,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  and  to  be 
foolishness  to  the  wisdom  of  this  world.  Yet  it  by  no  means 
claims  to  bo  out  of  analogy  with  all  that  men  had  ever  thought, 
or  felt  before.  On  the  contrary,  it  glories  in  bringing  out  to 
the  clear  light  of  day  the  mysterious  truth  which  the  spiritual 
nature  of  man  suggested  to  him  dark  hints  of  the  existence 
of.  It  represents  all  creation  as  groaning  and  travailing  in 
pain  till  now :  and  Jesus  Christ  as  the  stiller  of  creation's 
groans,  himself  at  once  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  and  the 
leader  of  humanity  in  its  final  march  to  victory,  and  the 
realization  of  its  unspeakable  desires.  The  vision  of  the 
world's  dream  has  in  him  its  waking  reality.  The  shadows 
and  shifting  cloud  palaces  that  floated  on  the  world's  spiritual 
sky  became,  through  Jesus  Christ,  the  real  city  of  God. 
Jerusalem  come  down  out  of  heaven,  and  standing  stable  on 
earth.  The  ladder  of  the  world's  night  visions,  reaching 
from  earth  to  heaven,  with  superhuman  beings,  gods  many 
and  demigods  many  ascending  and  descending  upon  it,  is 
realized  in  the  coming  forth  of  Jesus  from  the  bosom  of  the 
Father  to  declare  him,  and  through  him  the  ascending  and 
descending  of  ''  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  to 
them  which  are  heirs  of  salvation." 

Hence  the  ineffable  folly  and  effrontery  of  these  trans- 
cendental sophists  who,  affecting  to  regard  all  historical  and 


CAUSES  Trnicii  make  conscious  the  soul  thirst.  443 

external  religion  as  a  clog  upon  the  lofty  devotional  flights 
of  its  spiritual  insight,  say  to  us,  ''  Destroy  this  temple,  and 
in  three  days  we  will  raise  it  up,"  a  far  more  gorgeous 
spiritual  temple  for  the  worship  of  the  soul,  in  which  shall  be 
celebrated  the  rites  of  the  absolute  and  universal  religion. 
What  is  their  proposition  in  effect  but  to  ask  us  to  turn  away 
from  the  fountain  of  living  water,  and,  with  the  heathen, 
struggle  to  quench  the  thirst  of  the  famishing  soul  at  the 
shadowy  rivers  and  lakes  which  have  ever  been  projected  to 
the  view  of  thirsty  men  upon  the  spiritual  horizon  of 
humanity,  from  the  reality  of  lying  far  out  of  sight. 

I  have  extended  these  illustrations  rather  for  the  sake  of 
impressing  a  great  general  truth  too  much  overlooked,  than 
because  I  take  the  primary  or  chief  reference  of  this  •'  thirst " 
in  the  gospel  of  Jesus,  ascended  to  be  the  general  v>'anty 
felt  by  humanity  -at  large,  of  something  analogous  to  the 
provisions  of  the  gospel.  And  because,  also,  with  this 
general  truth  in  mind,  wo  can  the  more  readily  appreciate 
the  force  and  beauty  of  the  figure  ^'  athirst "  as  applied  to 
that  state  of  tho  individual  soul  to  which  special  reference  is 
had  in  the  saying  "  Let  him  that  is  athirst  come." 

III.  This  leads  to  our  third  proposed  inquiry,  into  the 
causes  which  develop  this  consciousness  of  thirst  in  the  indi- 
vidual soul  to  which  reference  is  here  specially  made.  These 
are  natural  and  supernatural. 

A  first  natural  cause  tending  to  such  a  result  is  the  consci- 
ousness, in  every  intelligent  spirit ;  of  instincts  that  fiiil  to  be 
met  by  corresponding  provisions  in  the  nature  of  the  life  tliat 
now  is  ;  and  of  powers  of  action  and  tendencies  to  action  which 
have  no  theatre  wide  enough  in  the  present  life,  for  their  proper 
development.  Every  man  who  reflects  at  all  on  his  inner 
nature  discovers  in  himself  a  singular  paradox — the  powers 
of  a  giant  fettered  within  the  limits  of  a  cradle  ;  passions  that 
find  no  corresponding  objects  in  life,  upon  which  to  ex])end 


444  GOSPEL  WATER  OF  LIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL.  i 

their  energies,  ideals  of  heroic  hfe  that  he  can  never  actuahzc.  ^ 
Hence  the  restlessness  of  the  human  spirit,  never  content  | 
with  the  attained  but  ever  gazing  forward  and  eagerly  grasp-  ; 
"ing  at  the  unattained.  Hence  the  peculiar  tendency  of  man, 
above  all  other  animals,  to  excessive  indulgence  of  the  merely  ] 
sensual  appetites.  It  is  simply  the  attempt  to  feed  the  hungry  \ 
soul,  ''  on  the  husks  that  the  swine  do  eat ;"  to  satisfy  that  ' 
spirit  with  -'bread  alone,"  which  was  made  to  feed  upon 
•"  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  i 
And  even  among  the  few  who  rise  above  these  grosser  con-  ; 
ceptions,  and  grasp  after  fame,  as  men  of  wealth,  of  learning,  ' 
or  of  high  position — there  is  in  the  end  always  the  same  dis-  , 
.appointment.  i 

After  a  life  spent  in  pressing  along  the  crowded  and  dusty  I 
•avenues  to  wealth,  honour  and  fame,  the  poor  cheated  spirit  i 
must  sit  down  and  review  life  with  discontent  and  disap-  I 
pointment.  The  whole  of  it — even  at  the  best  estate — is  | 
now  seen  to  be  but  the  repetition,  over  and  over  again,  of  the  j 
delusion  of  childhood,  when  he  ran  eagerly  in  chase  of  the  ! 
end  of  the  beautiful  rainbow  that  stood  in  the  meadow,  to  find  ^ 
the  pot  of  gold,  which  the  faith  of  the  nursery  always  held  to 
1)0  buried  there.  Or,  in  case  the  passions  have  been  specially  \ 
called  into  play,  in  the  pursuits  of  life,  then  the  review  of  it  is 
rather  analogous  to  that  of  the  poor  famishing  emigrant,  i 
rushing,  all  day  long,  over  the  hot  sands  and  under  the  burn-  | 
ing  sun  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  desert,  in  desperate  chase  after  \ 
the  cool  streams  and  refreshing  shades  which  the  treacherous  I 
miasma  has  created  on  the  horizon  before  him ;  only  to  find  j 
himself  at  last  deluded,  and  nothing  left  him  but  to  lie  down 
on  the  burning  sands  and  die.  Hence  to  the  more  reflective  ! 
of  men  there  must  ever  be  some  sort  of  consciousness  of  this  j 
'-'  thirst"  instinctively  in  the  soul.  \ 

On  the  back  of  this  negative  aomes  in,  oft  times,  the  positive 
icause  of  deep  sorrow,  affliction,  and  disappointment  to  excite   : 


THE  TERMS  AND  THE  AGENCIES  URGING  THEM.  445- 

this  thirst — for  such  is  the  ordinary  lot  of  human  life.  And 
it  is  ever  the  tendency  of  sorrow  that  darkens  the  soul  to 
awaken  instinctive  impressions  of  guilt,  and  of  wrong  done, 
that  has  caused  God  to  send  the  affliction.  There  comes  also, 
the  suspicion  of  the  treacherousness  of  these  promises  of  satis- 
faction which  the  world  has  been  holding  out,  and  of  the  risk 
that  at  any  moment  all  may  be  swept  away  and  the  spirit 
beggared,  and  for  the  time  the  thirst  burns  in  the  soul. 

On  the  back  of  these  again  come  those  impulses  of  the 
natural  conscience,  which,  though  ordinarily  it  may  sleep,  is 
often  aroused  by  the  fall  into  some  unusual  sin,  or  the  coming 
in  of  some  unusual  sorrow.  It  alarms  the  fears,  by  suggesting 
retribution  in  store,  and  an  angry  God  who  sees  the  sin  with 
special  displeasure. 

But  over  and  above  these  natural  causes  come  the  movings- 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  whose  office  it  is  to  convince  of  sin.  And 
especially,  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  brought  within  the 
reach  of  that  word,  which  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, — do  the 
great  truths  of  the  gospel  sometimes  take  fast  hold  of  the 
conscience.  Even  in  these  cases,  it  may  prove  to  be  those 
ordinary  movements  of  the  spirit  of  God,  whereby  the  natural 
conscience  is  excited  to  action,  and  the  spiritual  nature  within 
kept  from  being  utterly  crushed.  But  in  other  cases  the 
mere,  "  sorrow  of  the  world  that  worketh  death,"  becomes  the 
true,  "  godly  sorrow  that  leadeth  to  repentance."  Then 
begins  a  longing  for  deliverance  from  sin,  which  cries  out — 
'^  as  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul 
after  thee,  oh  God  ;  my  soul  longeth,  yea  thirsteth  for  God." 

Now,  while  this  gospel  according  to  Jesus  ascended,  extends 
to  all  these  cases,  yet  it  has  specially  in  view  this  last  case  of 
the  earnest  soul,  under  the  movings  of  the  Spirit,  thus 
'■  thirsting"  for  that  which  will  relieve  its  thirst. 

IV.  And  on  what  terms  now  may  such  have  relief  ?  On. 
no  other  th.m  si.nply  to  take  it,  "  freely !"    "  Freely"  is  the. 


446  GOSPEL  WATER  OF  LIFE  FOR  THE  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL. 

answer  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  ascended.  As  I  have  shown 
jou  before — even  after  putting  the  offer  in  terms  so  wide  as 
to  say,  "  let  him  that  is  athirst  come" — the  compassionate 
Saviour,  as  the  last  words  that  shall  ring  from  heaven  in  the 
sinner's  ears  through  all  our  dispensation,  proclaims  still  more 
absolutely,  "  whomever  ivill,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely."  No  matter  who  he  be,  no  matter  how  great  his  guilt, 
no  matter  how  depraved  his  nature,  no  matter  how  dark  and 
damning  the  stain  of  sin  upon  his  soul !  Brethren,  I  have 
shown  you  in  a  former  discourse,  how  all  the  expressions  of 
the  terms  of  salvation  in  the  gospel  of  Jesur  incarnate  and  of 
his  Apostles,  whether  literal  or  figurative,  when  reduced  to 
their  last  analysis  amount  to  this,  that  whosoever  will  may 
come.  And  now  we  have  in  the  last  gospel  of  all — the  gospel 
of  Jesus  ascended — and  the  last  of  that  gospel,  the  direct 
confirmation  of  that  argument.  The  climax  of  all  the  gospels 
preached  from  Abel  to  Abraham,  and  from  Abraham  to  David, 
and  from  David  to  Jesus  Incarnate,  and  from  Jesus  Incarnate 
to  the  last  of  his  Apostles — the  climax  of  all,  the  key 'to  all, 
and  the  final  development  of  all  is  this—"  whosoever  will, 
let  him  take  of  the  waters  of  life  freely.  Surely  this  is 
enough — nor  can  human  thought  conceive  cr  human  lan- 
guage utter  any  offer  freer  than  that !  But  the  compassion  of 
Christ  for  lost  sinners  is  not  exhausted  with  the  throwing  open 
the  fountain  of  life  and  saying,  "  whosoever  Avill  let  him  take 
freely.".  Had  it  been  left  thus,  no  sinner  w^ould  have  been 
saved.  He  hath  devised  a  system  of  agencies  to  "  draw  all 
men  unto  him,"  as  he  is  thus  "  lifted  up,"  and  the  fountain  of 
life  opened. 

V.  What  are  these  agencies  ?  They  are,  again,  both 
natural  and  supernatural.  In  the  first  place,  availing  himself 
of  the  power  of  human  sympathy,  he  constitutes  every  sinner 
''  that  heareth,"  and  thereby  quenches  his  own  thirst,  a  mis- 
sionary to  tell  others  also  to  come.     The  very  act  whereby 


THE  TERMS  AND  THE  AGENCIES  URGING  THEM.   447 

he  is  created  anew,  awakens  in  him  the  desire,  "  0  that  all 
would  believe."  So  that  surrounding  every  sinner  where- 
evcr  this  gospel  has  been  preached,  there  are  those  who  can 
testify  by  experience  to  its  efficiency,  as  a  means  of  quench- 
ing the  ''  thirst."  Is  there  not  reason  to  fear,  brethren,  that 
this  agency  of  personal  effort  is  not  employed  as  extensively 
as,  under  the  terms  of  this  gospel,  it  would  seem  to  be  author- 
ized and  enjoined  ?  Is  there  not  too  much  timidity,  on  the 
part  of  many  who  have  truly  heard,  about  permitting  the 
natural  impulses  of  the  new  life  to  have  d^br-course  in  utter 
ing  the  invitation — "  Come  ?"  ^ 

In  the  next  place,  the  results  of  this  scheme  of  salvation 
are  organized  by  Christ  into  a  great  body,  whose  chief  func- 
tion it  is,  to  extend  the  invitaujn.  The  Church  of  God,  the 
bride  of  the  Lamb,  saith  ''  Come."  This  is  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  all  her  ordinances. 

The  one  grand  mission  of  the  Church  on  earth,  is  to  hoR 
forth  this  water  of  life  in  the  view  of  perishing  sinners,  and  cry 
"  Come."  And,  organized  as  this  peculiar  body  is  of  "  the 
families  that  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  many  of  you  find 
your  life  so  woven  hito  the  web  of  other  lives  about  you,  that 
every  holy  tie  which  binds  you  to  earth,  is  a  cord  about  you 
to  draw  you  to  the  fountain  of  life.  Not  only  the  voice  of  the 
venerated  pastor  of  your  youth,  in  the  word,  sacraments  and 
prayer,  a  voice  of  authoritative  invitation,  but  the  voice  of 
personal  affection — of  Sabbath  teacher,  friend,  father,  mother, 
wife,  sister,  brother,  child,  are  all  to  you  voices  of  special  and 
perpetual  invitation. 

And  if  fretted  by  the  importunity  of  the  voices  from 
the  bride  on  earth  you  seek  to  retire  within  yourself — 
then,  in  your  deepest  solitude,  comes  the  voice  of  the  bride, 
as  the  redeemed  Church  in  heaven.  For  a  thousand  holy 
memories  and  associations  so  connect  you  with  the  departed 
of  the  Church  in  heaven,  that  voices  of  personal  invitation 


448  GOSPEL  WATER  OF  LIFE  FOR  THIRST  OF  THE  SOUL, 

"whisper  thence  to  jour  spirit  also.  It  may  be  the  whisper  of 
the  venerated  father,  now  at  rest  from  his  tolls,  gently  chiding 
you,  as  he  used  kindly  to  chide  your  folly,  saying,  '  Why  for- 
sake the  fountain  of  living  waterij  for  broken  cisterns  that  can 
hold  no  water  ?"  Perhaps  it  is  the  soft  mother's  voice  that  so 
fascinated  the  ear  of  your  childhood  with  her  cradle  song  of 
Jesus,  that  now  seems  to  awake  with  the  familiar  strain : 

"Delay  not!  Delay  not!  0  loved  one,  draw  near; 
The  waters  of  life  are  still  flowing  for  thee ;" 

Thou  doating  father — perhaps  it  is  the  voice  of  the  cherub 
boy  whose  Sabbath  school  choral  once  so  charmed  thee,  now 
singing  to  soothe  and  comfort  thee : 

«  Jesus  the  Saviour  in  mercy  said  *  come ! 
Joyfully,  Joyfully  haste  to  thy  home  V 
Death  with  his  arrow  indeed  laid  me  low. 
But,  safely  with  Jesus,  I  feel  not  the  blow. 
Jesus  hath  broken  the  bars  of  the  tomb, 
Joyfully,  Joyfully,  I  have  got  home." 

Thou  sad  sister — perhaps  it  is  the  noble  brother  whose  sun 
went  down  ere  yet  it  w^as  noon,  and  who,  wrapping  himself  in 
the  robe  of  his  manly  beauty,  lay  down  to  sleep  in  Jesus — 
that  now  beckons  thee  to  come  and  "  take  of  the  w^ater  of 
life,"  that  thou  may  est  walk  with  him  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  of  life.  Or  thou  brother — it  may  be  that  sister,  who 
parted  with  thee  at  the  river  of  death,  waving  back  so  cheer- 
fully her  farewells,  that  is  now  waving  the  invitations  from 
the  river  of  life  ! 

Thou  weeping  Rachel — it  may  be  the  little  one  for  whom 
thou  art  refusing  to  be  comforted,  that  from  that  glorious 
kingdom  of  Heaven  stretches  its  eager  hands,  with  the 
immortal  smile  upon  its  countenance  calling  to  thee  "  Come  ! 
mother,  come !  Come,  learn  the  love  of  Jesus  who  took  me 
from  your  arms  to  his  own ;  come  up  here  where  they  nerer 
die  any  more,  and  never  cry  any  more.    Come  !  just  taste  this 


THE  TERMS  AND  THE  AGENCIES  URGING  TIIEM.     449 

water  of  life,  for  they  who  taste  it  never  thirst  any  more  !'^ 
Yes,  the  bride  saith  come  !  on  earth  and  in  heaven  alike ! 
Yet,  alas !  sucli  is  the  power  of  sin  in  the  soul — even  in  the 
thirsty  soul — that  all  these  eloquent  voices  of  invitation  arc 
unavailing  in  themselves  !  But  the  same  love  which  opened 
the  fountain  of  life  hath  provided  an  agency  of  persuasive 
power  enough  to  "  make  them  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power." 
For,  in  addition  to  these  natural  agencies,  '•  The  Spirit  saith 

COME." 

Brethren,  having  no  space  now  left  for  any  adequate  de- 
velopment of  the  great  gospel  doctrine  of  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  persuading  and  enabling  sinners  to  embrace  Jesus 
Christ,  offered  here  as  the  water  of  life  so  freely,  I  may  with 
a  single  explanatory  remark,  appeal  simply  to  your  own 
experience,  for  the  testimony  to  the  reality  of  this,  as  of  the 
natural  agencies  moving  sinners  to  accept  the  offer.  The 
teaching  of  the  gospel  is  that,  while  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  supernatural,  in  opening  the  blind  eyes  and  renewing 
the  will,  and  persuading  the  soul  to  willingness,  he  yet,  ordina- 
1 1>,  operates  through  the  natural  avenues  of  approach  to  the 
soul.  -^  Behold,"  saith  he,  "  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock."  He  makes  use  of  the  usual  method  of  siiainin^ 
admittance,  operating  in  and  through  the  agencies  already 
described.  Hath  he  not,  therefore,  often  said  to  you 
"  Come  ?"  In  those  deep  and  solemn  impressions  which  the 
truth  hath  made  ofttimes — in  that  impulse,  that  led  you  to 
resolve  to  accept  the  offer — in  those  solemn  providences, 
which  so  much  impressed  you — in  those  movings  of  con- 
science, charging  you  with  sin — in  those  uneasy  longings 
for  something  better,  and.  that  dissatisfaction  with  yourself — 
It  was  the  Spirit  saying  ''  Come."  0  heed  the  voice  and 
grieve  Him  not  away  ! 


DD 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  A  TO  DISCOURSE  HI. 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  FOR  THE   SABBATH. 


The  recent  mournful  defection  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  to  thoroughly 
rationalistic  views  of  the  obligation  of  the  Mosaic  law  in  general,  and  its 
law  of  the  Sabbath  in  particular,  having  occurred  since  the  discourse  on 
the  Gospel  Covenant  and  worship  of  the  lost  Eden  was  written;  and  hav- 
ing awakened  a  fresh  interest  in  the  discussion  of  the  Sabbath  question, 
the  Author  presumes  that  it  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  his  readers,  if  he 
shall  append  to  this  paragraph  touching  the  Eden  Sabbath,  at  least  a 
reference  to  some  views  in  this  volume  which  seem  singularly  to  have 
anticipated  the  new  ground  upon  which  Dr.  Macleod  proposes  to  void  the 
authority  of  the  Fourth  Commandment  in  the  Christian  Church,  viz.,  the 
fact  that  the  Sinai  revelation  was  in  the  nature  of  a  Covenant  transaction 
with  Israel,  and  therefore  passed  away  with  the  Mosaic  dispensation  save 
in.  so  far  as  its  precepts  were  of  universal  moral  obligation  anterior  to  and 
independent  of  the  revelation  at  Sinai. 

In  Discourse  VI.,  on  the  Sinai  Covenant,  will  be  found  the  general  prin- 
ciples on  which  he  thinks  the  argument  against  the  Anti-Mosaic  Rationa- 
lism should  be  founded.  To  wit,  that  the  whole  Anti-Mosaic  theory 
arises  from  an  entire  failure  to  perceive  the  nature  of  the  Sinai  revela- 
tions as  a  Covenant  with  the  Church  of  that  age,  as  representative  of  the 
Church  in  all  ages — as  both  Moses  and  the  Martyr  Stephen  assert — prescrib- 
ing a  rule  of  life  to  convince  of  sin,  and  a  ritual  to  teach  how  sin  is  taken 
away.  That  nothing  enacted  by  Jehovah  Jesus,  through  Moses,  has  been 
repealed  any  more  than  what  Jesus  enacted  through  Paul ;  however  some 
aoncrete  forms  of  the  law  in  its  application  may  fall  away,  and  become 
obsolete  by  the  progress  of  ages,  and  the  fuller  revelations  of  redemption. 
That  the  reason,  therefore,  for  the  comparative  silence  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment on  the  subject  of  the  Sabbath,  to  which  Dr.  Candlish  refers  with  so 
much  effect  in  a  recent  lecture,  is  the  same  as  the  reason  for  the  silence  on 
the  subject  of  the  organization  of  the  Church,  and  the  membership  of  the 


452  APPENDIX. 

children  in  the  Church ;  namely :  That  the  Church  was  regarded  as  already 
organized,  and  the  children  in  it  under  the  Covenant  with  Abraham;  and 
the  Sabbath  as  already  established  in  the  Covenant  with  the  Church,  at 
Sinai,  as  all  other  precepts  of  the  holy  life.  Therefore,  it  devolves  on  those 
who  deny  the  Sabbath,  to  take  the  labouring  oar,  and  show  where  it  is 
repealed  in  tlie  New  Testament. 

It  will  be  perceived,  moreover,  that  not  only  the  general  principles  sug- 
gested in  Discourse  VI.,  but  the  argument  of  his  whole  series  of  discourses 
illustrates  how  the  fact  of  the  identity  of  the  visible  Church  in  all  ages — 
and  together  with  the  fiict  of  the  representative  character  of  Israel  at  Sinai, 
■who,  as  Stephen  says,  "received  the  lively  oracles  to  give  unto  us"  of 
the  Christian  dispensation,  furnishes  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
whole  scripture  as  a  history  of  redemption ;  and  therefore  Dr.  Macleod's 
device  for  avoiding  the  force  of  the  argument  from  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment, drives  him  to  the  assertion  of  a  principle  on  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  interpret  the  scriptures  in  the  sense  of  the  symbols  of  his  Church? 
or  indeed  in  any  other  than  the  rationalistic  sense. 

In  the  unfortunate  controversy  among  the  Protestants  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, respecting  t^e  sacredness  and  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Sabbath,  as 
a  Divine  ordinance — which  controversy  may  be  traced,  perhaps,  to  the 
almost  Antinomian  zeal  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  against  even  the  semblance 
of  Judaical  legalism,  as  well  as  their  just  hostility  to  mere  ecclesiastical 
ordinance,  as  of  authority  over  the  conscience — the  British,  and  after  them 
the  American  Churches,  have  generally  held  the  stricter  views  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  Sabbath,  against  the  laxer  views  of  the  Continental 
Churches. 

Yet  at  the  same  time,  both  in  Britain  and  America,  a  perpetual  conflict 
has  been  necessary  to  maintain  this  stricter  view  against  the  combined 
influence  of  semi-Popish  Churchism,  of  the  type  of  Laud  and  the  "  Book  of 
Sports,"  immigrant  Continental  Protestantism,  Popery  and  open  Infidelity 
— all  of  which  unite  with  the  secularism  of  the  masses  to  overthrow  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  or  at  least  to  pervert  it  into  a  mere  holiday  instead  of 
a  day  wholly  consecrated  to  the  public  and  private  worship  of  God. 

In  this  struggle  too,  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  in  their  zeal  to  gain  the 
popular  verdict,  and  meet  the  popular  prejudices,  as  in  the  Sabbath  Mail 
controversies,  and  other  efforts  to  gain  legislative  sanction  and  protection 
for  the  Sabbath — its  advocates  have  based  the  argument  a  little  too  exclu- 
sively on  grounds  of  expediency  ;  and  have  sometimes  even  attempted  to 
enforce  tbeir  views  by  doubtful  illustrations,  to  the  effect  that  Providence 
directly  interferes  in  the  ordinary  events  of  life,  to  reward  the  obedient 
arbd  punish  the  Sabbath-breaker,  and  thereby  appealing  to  interest,  rather 
than  conscience,  to  demonstrate  that  Sabbath  observance  is  on  the  whole 
a  good  speculation. 


NOTE   TO   DISCOURSE   IV.  453 

No  doubt  also  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Sabbath,  a3  an  article  of  Chris- 
tian faith,  has  been  obscured  somewhat  to  the  public  view,  by  the  zeal  for 
legislative  enactment  of  the  Sabbath  on  grounds  that  imply  some  sort  of 
authority  in  the  civil  legislature  to  enact  religious  laws  with  pains  and 
penalties.  Even  in  America,  where,  theoretically,  the  sphere  of  the  state  is 
wholly  political,  the  leaven  of  the  original  Puritan  conceptions  of  the 
State  relative  to  religion,  has  led  to  plying  legislativrcs  with  theological 
arguments  for  the  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath,  as  an  article  of  Cliristian  doc- 
trine, and  as  one  of  the  covenant  engagements  of  the  Church  with  her 
adorable  Head,  ''the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,"  is  one  thing;  the  Sabbath  as  a 
public  necessity,  and  enacted  by  the  will  of  a  people  permeated  with 
Christian  ideas,  through  their  servant  the  legislature,  is  quite  a  different 
thing.  The  consequence,  here  as  in  all  other  cases,  is  that  the  "  confound- 
ing things  which  God  hath  sundered  leadeth  to  decay  of  true  religion." 

It  will  add  another  to  the  instances  of  good  coming  out  of  evil  if  this 
new  phase  of  the  Sabbath  controversy  shall  lead  to  a  thorough  exposition 
of  the  theory  of  the  relation  of  the  "  Church  in  the  wilderness"  to  tho 
Christian  Church  and  the  obligations  of  the  Sinai  Covenant  upon  the 
Church  of  all  ages. 


NOTE  TO  DISCOURSE  IV. 


OF  THE   PLACE  OF  THE  CHURCH  IX  THE   REVEALED  SCHEME   OF 
REDEilPTIOX  ;  AND  THE  DOCTRLVE  OF  THE  CHURCH  AS  FUXDA- 
■     MENTAL  IN  THE  GOSPEL  THEOLOGY. 


It  has  occurred  to  the  author  that  perhaps  students,  and  others  accustomed 
to  the  closer  methods  of  thinking,  into  whose  hands  this  volume  may  fall, 
would  be  pleased  to  have,  in  a  form  more  elaborate  than  is  suited  to  popular 
discourses,  a  brief  statement  of  Ikis  theory  of  the  place  of  the  Church 
in  the  scheme  of  Redemption ; — the  more  especially,  as  they  will  discover 
that  the  theory  of  Biblical  interpretation,  and  the  method  of  preaching, 
exliibited  in  these  discourses,  gives  prominence  to  the  churchly  idea,  in  our 
holy  religion. 

xVsidc,  however,  from  this  special  reason  for  such  a  statement,  it  is  the 
profound  conviction  of  the  author  that  among  all  the  sources  of  our  con- 
troversies in  the  Reformed  churches,  and  of  the  Rationalistic  perversions  of 
the  gospel,  none  has  been  more  fruitful  than  the  failure  of  Protestants  to 
perceive  clearly  and  grasp  firmly  the  great  doctrine  of  the  Church  as  a 
fundamental  truth  of  the  gospel  revelation. 


454  APPENDIX 

It  was  the  obsf^rvation,  perhaps  of  Kleiforth,  whose  own  views  on  the 
subject  of  the  Church  diverge  very  widely  from  the  scriptures,  that  of  the 
four  great  branches  of  sacred  science — Theology,  the  science  of  God, 
Anthropology,  the  science  of  man  as  related  to  God,  Soteriology,  the 
science  of  salvation,  and  Ecclesiology,  the  science  of  the  Church — the 
three  first  have  had  their  full  development  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
but  the  fourth  remains  to  be  developed.  That  the  controversies  touching  the 
nature  of  the  Godhead  which  closed  under  the  labours  of  Athanasius  fully 
developed  Theology  ;  the  labours  of  Augustine  against  the  Pelagians  fully 
developed  Anthropology ;  the  labours  of  Luther  and  Calvin  against  Rome, 
to  establish  salvation  by  grace,  fully  developed  Soteriology ;  thus  leaving 
Ecclesiology  still  to  receive  its  development  in  the  Protestant  Churches. 
Unfortunately  this  development  has  been  slow ;  not  because  the  Reformers, 
did  not  catch  glimpses  of  this  great  doctrine  also,  but  because  their  ex- 
posed condition  compelled  them  to  take  shelter  under  civil  governments 
which  would  not  permit  the  full  and  free  development  of  a  doctrine  which 
seemed  directly  to  affect  their  absolute  control  over  their  subjects.  The 
jealousies  and  divisions  growing  out  of  this  connection  of  the  churches 
with  civil  governments;  the  popular  prejudice  against  church  authority 
arising  out  of  the  terrible  abuses  of  it  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  the 
gradual  growth  of  the  error  that  the  gospel  doctrines  may  be  held  and  pro- 
pagated without  the  gospel  Church,  have  hitherto  prevented  any  progress 
in  this  development. 

The  fundamental  error  of  many  of  the  Protestant  theories  of  the  Church 
lies  in  overlooking  the  fact  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  is  a  fundamental 
truth  of  the  gospel,  and  is  entitled  to  the  same  sort  of  consideration  as  other 
articles  of  theology.  Nay  more,  that  not  only  is  this  doctrine  intimately 
connected  with  the  other  articles  of  Protestant  theology,  but  it  enters  as  an 
element  into  all  those  doctrines,  and  to  a  large  extent  moulds  and  shapes 
the  scientific  statement  of  them.  It  will  be  the  purpose  of  the  remarks 
now  submitted,  gathered  from  a  previously  published  tract  on  this  subject 
now  out  of  print,  to  illustrate  this  view  of  the  question. 

There  is  in  the  minds  of  many  persons,  and  even  students  of  theology,  a 
prejudice  against  such  reasonings,  as  too  transcendental,  and  out  of  the 
sphere  of  practical  Christian  knowledge.  But  students,  at  least,  should 
know  that  by  celestial  observations  alone  can  safe  and  practical  terrestrial 
charts  be  constructed.  And  while  the  mariner  may,  indeed,  laarn  to  find 
his  way  over  the  ocean  by  his  chart,  as  men  learn  a  trade,  yet,  in  order  to 
any  true  and  intelligent  guidance  by  the  chart,  scientific  observations  to 
determine  the  relations  of  the  Earth  to  the  bodies  in  the  heavens  becomes 
a  prime  necessity.  So  it  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  any  true 
ecclesiology,  to  study  the  relations  of  this  idea  of  the  Church,  to  those 
other  great  ideas  which  entered  into  the  plan  of  redemption  framed  in  the 
councils  of  eternity. 


NOTE    TO   DISCOURSE    IV.  455 

No  student  of  scripture  needs  to  be  told  that  the  Apostles  give  no 
ground  for  this  notion  of  separating  practical  religious  thought  from  the 
]ii-ofounder  views  of  God's  method  of  Redemption.  That — in  exhibiting  the 
practical  truths  of  the  doctrines  of  grace — they  ever  look  backward  to 
eternity  and  forward  to  eternity  from  the  stand  of  the  revelation  given 
through  them.  As  after  the  method  of  those  immense  triangnlations  of 
the  modern  trigonometrical  surveys,  which,  from  some  known  base  line 
measured  upon  the  plain,  take  observations,  forward  and  backward,  of  the 
prominent  mountain-tops  at  immense  distances,  from  which,  again,  other 
observations  are  extended,  till  the  measuring-lino  of  .their  science  is  laid, 
encompassing  half  the  globe,  and  determining  with  marvellous  accuracy, 
even  to  a  single  inch,  the  distance  : — so  these  inspired  Apostles,  assuming 
as  the  ground-work  of  their  argument  that  which  they  now  see  and  hear 
under  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  from  this  direct  their  vision  back  to  the 
prominent  facts  in  the  past  dispensations  of  God,  and  onward  to  the  pro- 
minent heights  of  the  prophetic  views  of  the  dispensations  yet  to 'come  j 
and  from  these  in  tarn  they  determine  new  points  of  the  argument.  With 
a  logic  at  once  sublime  in  its  reach  and  intinite  in  its  comprehension,  they 
determine  the  measure,  the  proportions,  and  the  relations  of  that  transcen- 
dent problem  of  man's  salvation,  which  has  its  primary  elements  in  tlie 
depths  of  eternity  past,  and  its  conclusion  in  the  depths  of  eternity  to  come. 
So  in  every  department  of  revealed  knowledge,  they  alone  shall  succeed 
in  obtaining  adequate  conceptions  of  tlie  significancy  of  the  several  parts 
thereof,  and  the  highest  practical  knowledge  of  the  whole,  who,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  shall  have  studied  the  "  pattern  in  the 
heavens,"  as  it  existed  in  the  mind  of  the  Infinite  Author  of  salvation. 

Since  the  Reformation,  four  chief  theories,  and  these  inclusive  of  all 
other  theories  of  revealed  theology,  have  had  currency  in  Christendom, — 
the  Papal,  the  Zuinglian,  the  Lutheran,  and  the  Calvinistic.  Of  these  the 
first  named  is  the  original  error  against  which  the  last  three  may  be 
regarded  as  successive  forms  of  just  protest.  All  three  of  these  protests 
are  true  in  their  general  idea  intrinsically,  and  successful  in  developing 
the  chief  truths  of  the  gospel,  but  with  widely  different  degrees  of  clear- 
ness and  completeness,  and  with  still  more  widely-different  degrees  of 
success  in  preserving  pure  and  incorrupt  the  doctrines  of  grace.  Recur- 
ring again  to  the  analogy  just  employed,  these  four  theories  may  not 
unaptly  be  compared,  as  to  their  relative  value,  with  the  four  different 
theories  of  the  visible  universe  which  have  in  different  ages  had  currency 
in  the  world.  The  Papal  theory  of  theology,  like  the  ancient  mythoic- 
gical  theory  of  the  universe,  scarce  pretended  to  have  any  foundation 
other  than  in  mere  human  fancies  and  its  general  prevalence  among  men. 
And  just  as  the  Ptolemaic,  the  Copernioan,  and  the  still  more  modern 
theory  of  the  Mecanique  Celeste,  are  successive  protests  against  the  me/c 


456  APPENDIX. 

prejudices  and  dreams  of  men ;  yea,  just  as  by  each  of  them  the  funda- 
mental facts  of  the  Cosinos  had  in  some  sort  their  expLanation,  but  with 
different  degrees  of  consistency,  clearness  and  beauty,  so  with  the  three 
Protestant  theories  of  theology.  The  Zuinglian,  taking  as  the  central 
priuciple  of  its  structure  the  truth  that  the  word  of  God  alone  can  be  any 
:*»ithoritative  rule  to  the  conscience,  developed  from  that  point  a  true,  in 
(?pposition  to  a  counterfeit  gospel ;  yet  a  gospel  too  easily  perverted  by 
reason  of  its  tendency  to  exalt  the  rational  man  of  earth  into  a  centre  of 
the  spiritual  system,  or  at  least,  from  its  narrowness  of  view,  to  obscure 
tjie  higher  truths  of  the  scheme  of  Redemption.  The  Lutheran  theory, 
taking  as  its  central  principle  the  justification  of  the  sinner  by  grace  alone, 
through  faith,  after  the  fashion  of  Copernicus,  exhibited  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  as  the  real  centre,  to  whom  the  rational  man  of 
earth,  with  all  that  concerns  him,  is  attracted,  and  around  whom  he 
revolves.  Calvin,  whilst  perceiving  that  the  central  truths  of  both  Zuingle 
and  Luther  were  indeed  great  truths,  yet,  with  tlie  still  wider  vision  of 
La  Place  and  the  moderns,  beheld  not  only  the  rational  man  revolving 
around  the  mediatorial  Sun  ot  Righteousness  as  his  true  centre,  but  also 
that  man  and  his  Central  Sun  revolved  again  around  a  still  profounder 
centre,  even  the  Eternal  Purpose  of  God,  fixed  in  the  counsels  of  eternity 
before  the  world  began.  Such,  generally,  is  the  relative  position  to  the 
others  of  that  remarkable  theory  of  theology  which,  however  men  have 
cavilled  at,  they  must  be  constrained  to  admit  both  its  singular  accordance 
with  the  very  language,  and  its  logical  development  and  elucidation  of  all 
the  great  facts  of  revelation. 

Of  this  system  of  theology  the  eternal  purpose  of  God  is,  ideally,  the 
great  central  truth.  All  that  has  transpired  under  the  reign  of  grace  and 
under  the  administration  of  Providence,  since  the  world  began,  is  con- 
ceived of  as  simply  the  gradual  manifestation  in  time  of  the  purpose 
formed  from  eternity.*  The  revelation  which  God  has  made  of  himself  in 
his  word  is  but  the  record  of  the  execution  of  his  Eternal  Decree,  and  the 
publication  to  the  world  in  time  of  the  proceedings  had  in  the  counsels  of 
eternity.  The  revelation  of  Himself,  experimentally,  to  the  souls  Of  his 
people  is  but  the  manifestation  of  the  love  wherewith  he  loved  them  before 
the  world  began.  Every  syllable  of  truth  revealed  in  the  scriptures  is 
conceived  of  as  having  its  significance  and  its  importance  determined  by 
its  relation  to  the  purpose  previously  existing  in  the  Divine  Mind  ;  so  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  Decree  and  Predestination  of  God  is  not  so  much  a 
doctrine  of  Calvinism— one  distinct  truth  in  a  system  of  truth — as  a  mode 
of  conceiving  and  setting  forth  all  the  doctrines  which  make  up  revealed 
theology. 

Now,  pursuing  the   hint  already  suggested  touching  the   connection 

*  Eph.  i.  4-12,  iii.  9-11;  Rom.  viii.  28-33;  John  xvii.  2-5. 


NOTE    TO    DISCOURSE    IV.  4-)/ 

hetwoon  the  S5'-stcm  of  theology  and  the  idea  of  the  Church,  and  taking 
this  theory  of  Calvin  as  correct,  a  sure  and  reliable  central  point  -will  be 
found  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  likewise,  in  the  eternal  purpose  of 
God.  For  the  fuudamcutal  idea  of  the  Church,  as  a  separate  and  distinct 
portion  of  the  human  race,  is  found  in  the  peculiar  moile  of  that  purpost- 
itself.  It  is  set  forth  as  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  purpose  of  redemp- 
tion, tliat  it  is  to  save  not  merely  myriads  of  men  as  individual  mev^  but 
myriads  of  sinners,  as  composing  a  Mediatorial  body,  of  which  the  Media- 
tor shall  be  the  head  ;•  a  Mediatorial  Kingdom,  whose  government  shall 
bo  upon  His  shoulderf  forever;  a  Church,  the  Lamb's  Bride,  of  which  He 
shall  be  the  Husband  ;|  a  bride  whose  beautiful  portrait  was  graven  \ipon 
the  palms  of  his  hands,  and  whose  walls  were  continually  before  him.§ 
when  in  the  counsels  of  eternity  he  undertook  her  redemption. 

The  mission  of  Messiah,  undertaken  in  the  covenant  of  eternity,  was  not 
merely  that  of  a  teaching  Prophet  and  an  atoning  Priest,  but  of  a  ruling 
King  as  well.  His  work  was  not  to  enunciate  simply  a  doctrine  concern- 
ing God  and  man's  relations  to  God,  as  some  Socrates,  for  the  founding  of 
a  school ;  nor  even  merely  to  atone  for  sinners  as  a  ministering  priest  at 
the  altar :  it  was,  as  the  result  of  all,  and  the  reward  of  all,  to  found  a 
coiiiuiunilij,  to  organize  a  government,  and  administer  therein  as  a  perpetual 
king. 

It  will  be  perceived,  therefore,  that  the  primary  and  fundamental  con- 
ception of  the  Church  of  God  has  its  germinal  source  far  back  in  the 
purpose  of  God,  and  that  the  Church  naturally  and  necessarily  grows  out 
of  the  very  form  and  mode  of  the  scheme  of  redemption  for  sinners,  as  it 
lay  in  the  Infinite  Mind.  As  the  purpose  was  to  redeem  not  only  elect 
sinners,  but  a  body  of  elect  sinners, — an  organic  body  with  all  its  parts 
related  to  each  other,  and  the  Mediator  himself  the  head  thereof, — it  is 
manifest  that  in  that  purpose  is  involved  ideally  the  Church  as  an  elect 
portion  of  the  race  under  the  Headship  of  the  Messiah,  and  distinct  from 
another  and  reprobate  portion  of  the  human  family. 

The  elementary  conception  of  the  Church,  therefore,  and  that  concep- 
tion of  it  which  must  be  presupposed  and  enter  into  every  definition  of  the 
Church,  is  of  that  elect  body  of  men  which  was  contemplated  in  the  cove- 
nant of  redemption,  as  constituting  the  mediatorial  kingdom  of  Christ, 
a,nd  for  the  sake  of  which  body  he  undertook  the  work  of  salvation. 
Other  elements,  as  we  shall  see,  must  necessarily  enter  into  the  definition 
as  this  ideat  of  the  purpose  of  God  becomes  actual  in  the  external  ma:r- 
festation  of  the  purpose  in  time  ;  but  this  element  must  obviously  be  fouud 
involved  in  any  and  every  form  which  the  notion  of  tJic  Church,  as  actual 
and  external,  can  take.  In  this  view  of  the  case  is  found  the  reason  for 
the  fact  that  a  Calvinistic  theology  cannot  long  retain  its  integrity  and 

*  Col.  i.  lS-20.        t  Isa.  ix.  6,  7.        +  Eph.  v.  20.        §  Isa.  xlix.  IG. 


458  APPENDIX. 

purity  save  in  connection  ■with  a  Calvinistic  ecclesiology,  and  for  the 
more  general  fact,  already  referred  to,  of  the  intimate  connection  between 
a  -wrong  theology  and  wrong  views  of  the  Church. 

As  thQ  general  ideal  purpose  of  God  becomes  actual  and  revealed  in 
time,  so  every  part  of  the  purpose  has  its  corresponding  act'-  .1  external 
manifestation.  The  Mediator  of  til'e  ideal  eternal  co.^nant  .  com-.,  tbe 
Jehovah,  in  various  forms  manifesting  himself  to  men  ;  the  Angel  of  the 
covenant,  not  only  the  ideal  covenant  of  redemption,  but  of  the  actual 
covenant  of  grace,  in  its  successive  renewals  and  various  forms  ;  the  King 
of  Zion  ;  the  Word,  speaking  "at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  mansners  to 
the  fathers,"  and  in  the  last  time  becoming  incarnate  to  finish  the  atone- 
ment for  sin ;  the  ascended  Son  of  Man,  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of 
God,  to  send  forth  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  his  place,  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
redemption  on  earth  till  he  shall  return  a  second  time  in  glory. 

So  in  like  manner  the  ideal  ekUkLoi  of  the  covenant  of  redemption 
become  the  actual  kletoi  (called  ones)  of  the  manifested  purpose  in  time. 
Inasmuch  as  they  are  called  by  an  external  Mesh  of  the  word,  they  are 
gathered  iu  successive  generations  to  constitute  the  external  ekklena  on 
earth.  In  as  far  as  they  are  called  also  by  the  internal  klesis  of  the  Spirit, 
they  are  gathered  to  constitute  the  invisible  ekklesia,  the  full  and  complete 
actual  of  the  eternal  ideal.  For  whilst,  indeed,  the  effectual  call  of  the 
Spirit  can  alone  fulfil  the  promise  of  the  eternal  covenant  to  Messiah,  yet, 
as  that  call  is  externally  through  the  word  and  the  visible  ordinances,  the 
very  process  of  calling  and  preparing  the  elect  of  God  creates  the  visible 
Church  in  the  very  image  of  the  invisible.  And  it  is  in  this  visible  body 
that  the  Mediator  carries  on  his  administration,  works  by  his  Spirit,  gives 
laws  and  ordinances  for  the  present,  and  exceeding  great  and  precious  pro- 
mises of  that  which  is  to  come ;  and  through  this  body  carries  on  his 
purposes  of  mercy  toward  a  world  lying  in  wickedness. 

This  statement  concerning  the  actual  and  visible  Churcli  as  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ideal  elect  body  of  the  covenant  of  redemption  is  by  no  means 
exclusive  of  all  other  aspects  of  the  Church  in  the  gospel  scheme.  The 
visible  Church  is  an  important,  if  not  a  necessary,  means  of  revealing  to 
men  the  whole  counsel  of  God ;  and,  for  aught  we  know,  such  is  the  con- 
stitution of  the  human  mind  that  by  no  other  method  could  have  been 
communicated  to  human  intelligence  that  peculiar  feature  of  the  purpose 
of  God  which  contemplates  the  redeemed  not  as  individuals  merely,  but  as 
the  mediatorial  body  of  the  Redeemer.  In  another  view,  the  Church  is  an 
indispensable  means  of  accomplishing  the  great  purpose  of  his  love  to  his 
chosen  people,  as  an  institute  for  the  calling,  training,  and  edifying  the 
elect.  What  is  intended  in  the  foregoing  view  is  to  exhibit  the  external 
Church  in  time  as,  primarily  in  the  logical  order  of  thought,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ideal  body  of  the  covenant  of  redemption.     Contemplated  as  a 


NOTL   TO   DISCOURSE    IV.  4oD 

part  of  the  process  of  manifesting  to  men  the  purpose  of  God  to  gather  an 
elect  people,  the  Church  is  a  means  through  which  God  makes  known  his 
counsel.  Contemplated  as  to  its  immediate  end,  the  Church  is  a  divinely 
appointed  institute,  by  which  and  through  which  to  accomplish  his  ]>urpo3e 
in  his  calling  and  edification  of  his  elect.  But  both  these  views,  however 
important  and  essential,  are,  logically  speaking,  secondary  and  iucidoutal 
to  the  idea  of  the  Church — a  Church  on  earth,  as  the  development  of  his 
Church  ideal — "  tlie  pattern  in  the  heavens." 

It  is  a  marked  peculiarity  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant  that  it  brings  into 
view  the  Church  visible,  not  simply  as  the  external  manifestation  and 
development  of  the  ideal  mediatorial  body  of  the  Redeemer  in  the  eternal 
covenant,  but  at  the  same  time,  also,  as  an  actual  institute  for  the  calling 
and  training  of  the  elect  people  of  God.  From  this  time  forward,  through 
the  entire  revelation,  the  visible  Church  is  exhibited  as  a  body  externally 
called  to  the  privilege  of  receiving  the  oracles  of  God,  and  of  being 
specially  under  the  charge  of  Jehovah  as  his  peculiar  nation,  the  special 
beneficiary  of  his  promises,  and  enjoying  the  special  agency  of  his  Holy 
Spirit.  It  is  no  longer  limited  in  extent  of  numbers  to  the  true  k/tjtoi, — the 
called  internally  by  the  Spirit  according  to  the  eternal  purpose, — but  also  to 
the  called  [/v7.?/ro/]  who  are  externally  called  by  the  word  only.  Now,  as 
several  times  intimated  in  these  discourses,  and  assumed  as  the  ground,  of 
their  arguments  and  expositions,  every  revelation  ever  communicated, 
every  ordinance  appointed,  every  promise  and  covenant  made  of  God,  has 
been,  not  to  and  with  men  as  men,  or  as  constituting  nations,  but  to  and 
with  the  Church,  as  such, — a  body  organized  or  contemplated  as  the- 
elements  of  an  organization.  In  the  widest  sense,  to  the  ancient  Church 
were  committed  the  oracles  of  God.  The  successive  revelations  come  not 
from  God  as  Creator  to  men  as  creatures,  but  from  Messiah  as  Prophet  and 
King  over  his  Church  to  his  own  peculiar  people.  The  revelations  of  Sinai 
are  expressly  declarer  to  have  been  made  to  the  covenant-people ;  and 
when  Jloses  wrote  the  words  of  the  Lord  in  the  book,  they  were  formally 
ratified  as  the  covenant  between  God  and  the  Church.  After  Moses,  all 
additional  records  of  inspiration  are  given  to  the  Churoii  as  the  depository 
of  the  Oracles  of  God.  Here,  as  in  all  other  points,  Rome  does  not  invent 
pure  falsehood,  but  only  counterfeits  the  truth.  The  Church  is  in  truth 
anterior  to  the  Scriptures,  the  receiver  of  the  Scripture,  the  guardian  of  the 
Scripture.  Rome  adroitly  perverts  all  this  to  mean  that  the  Church  is 
superior  to  Scripture,  the  maker  of  Scripture,  the  infallible  interpreter  of 
Scripture.  Less  monstrous  indeed,  but  not  less  deceptive,  is  the  Rational- 
istic assumption  that  the  idea  of  the  Church  is  something  extraneous  to 
the  Scripture, — having  no  other  relation  than  that  of  an  expedient  or  even 
a  necessity  superinduced  upon  the  Scripture,  simply  by  the  outworking  of 
a  system  of  revelation  made  to  the  world  of  men  at  large,  and  when 


460  APPENDIX. 

received  bv  any  portion  thereof,  attracting  them  together  to  constitute  a 
School  of  Religions  Philosophy. 

From  the  foregoing  views  of  the  relation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church,  first 
to  the  plan  of  Redemption  in  the  Purpose  of  God,  and  secondly  to  the 
record  of  the  manifestation  of  the  Purpose  of  God  in  time,  we  derive  these 
general  observations  concerning  the  idea  and  nature  of  the  Churcli. 

1.  The  primary  and  germinal  idea  of  the  Church  of  God  is  of  that  elect 
body  of  men  which  was  contemplated  in  the  covenant  of  Redemption  as 
constituting  a  mediatorial  body,  of  which  Messiah  is  the  Head,  and  for  the 
sake  of  which  he  undertook  the  work  of  Redemption. 

2.  It  being  an  essential  feature  of  the  Plan  of  Redemption  that  the 
purpose  of  God  have  its  manifestation  through  successive  ages  of  time,  and 
its  accomplishment  through  external  instrumentalities,  even  the  call  (k?i,?/(7/.c) 
of  the  word,  providing  the  instrumentality  through  which  shall  be  made 
the  call  (k7i?~'U!c)  of  the  Spirit, — together  with  the  other  external  ordinances 
for  the  edifying  and  training  of  an  elect  people  in  external  convenant- 
relation  to  the  Mediator, — the  very  outworking  of  the  purpose  of  God  in 
time  brings  into  existence  an  actual  external  (e/c/c^T/cr/'a), — a  called  out  and 
separated  body  of  men,  corresponding  to  the  ideal  of  God's  Purpose. 

3.  In  accordance  with  this  relation  between  the  ideal  and  the  actual,  the 
Purpose  of  God  is  revealed  by  means  of  convenants,  as  between  the 
"Mediator  and  a  separated  portion  of  the  race ;  and  in  particular  one 
covenant,  as  a  charter,  specially  and  formally  organizing  into  a  community 
the  portion  of  the  race  to  which  the  Mediator  shall  specially  reveal  himself 
and  give  the  oracles  and  ordinances  through  which  he  will  execute  his 
mission  to  the  race  at  large,  over  which  he  shall  exercise  spiritual  authority 
as  its  Pounder,  Lawgiver,  and  Head ;  and  in  which  he  will  set  officers  to 
teach  and  rule,  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  his  agent  carry  on  the  work  of 
recreating  his  people. 

4.  This  body  visible  on  earth  is  perpetual  and  identical  through  all  ages. 
It  may  vary  in  its  degrees  of  purity,  down  to  utter  apostasy  ;  it  may  have 
its  seat  exclusively  in  one  nation  and  run  in  the  line  of  natural  descent,  or 
it  may  have  its  seat  alike  in  all  nations  and  treat  as  one  blood  all  kindreds 
of  men ;  it  may  be  now  conspicuous  before  the  world,  or  now  humble  and 
comparatively  hidden ;  it  may  vary  as  to  the  degree  of  Divine  knowledge 
xiurrent  in  it,  having  now  only  a  partial  and  now  a  fully-completed  revela- 
tion as  its  rule,  and  of  course,  therefore,  may  vary  as  to  the  form  of  its 
ordinances  and  instrumentalities  for  teaching  Divine  truth  : — but,  withal, 
it  is  essentially  the  same  body  of  people,  organized  for  the  same  purposes, 
administered  in  by  the  same  Head  and  Ruler,  and,  under  him,  ministered  to 
"by  the  same  sort  of  ministering  servants,  having  the  same  sort  of  duties  to 
discharge,  for  the  attainment  of  the  same  great  ends.     And  in  this  fact, 

•  doubtless,  is  the  true  solution  of   the  comparative  silence  of  scripture 


NOTE    TO    DISCOURSE    IV.  461 

liistory  touching  Church  government.  There  being  no  organic  changes 
from  the  first  institution  of  this  government,  there  is  no  call  for  any  special 
reference  to  that  subject  in  the  history.  The  events  which  constitute  the 
true  life  and  glory  of  a  nation — the  natural  and  healthy  developmeut  of  its 
organic  laws — arc  not  those  which  find  a  place  in  history,  but  rather  the 
events  which  destroy  and  disorganize.  Hence  the  saying  of  men,  "  Blessed 
the  nation  whose  annals  are  tiresome."  But  the  Divine  history  records  no 
tiresome  uunals  merely  to  fill  out  in  rhetorical  proportion  the  history  of  a 
given  space  of  time.  In  this  history  iiilence  takes  the  place  of  the  tiresonni 
annals  of  other  history.  Hence  the  silence  concerning  the  external  consti- 
tution of  the  kingdom  whose  history  it  records  is  simply  expressive  of  the 
continued  sameness  of  external  government  through  all  its  progressive- 
development. 

5.  The  idea  of  the  Church  being  thus  a  complex  idea,  the  proper  defini- 
tion of  the  Church  must  not  only  enumerate  the  essential  elementary  ideas 
that  enter  into  the  complex  whole,  but  also  make  such  an  enumeration  as 
shall  arrange  in  logical  order  these  several  elements  according  to  tlicir 
relative  position  and  prominence  each  to  the  other.  From  the  foregoing 
views,  the  definition  of  the  Church — as  simply  a  fact  of  revealed  theology — 
should  describe  it  as  that  body  of  men,  taken  as  a  whole  or  any  part  thereof, 
which,  acccording  to  God's  eternal  purpose  to  call  out  and  organize  a 
part  of  mankind  into  a  kingdom,  is  called  successively  in  time  by  hisVord 
and  Spirit  to  a  confession  of  Christ,  an  engagement  to  his  covenant,  and 
subjection  to  the  laws  of  his  kingdom.  This  general  description,  however, 
while  comprehending  all  the  elementary  ideas,  must  have  certain  modifica- 
tions, according  as  one  or  another  aspect  of  the  Church  is  prominent  in 
the  mind.  But  these  modifications  can  only  change  the  relative  prominence 
of  the  several  elements  one  to  the  other,  neither  adding  any  element,  nor 
taking  any  away.  Thus,  in  defining  the  Church  as  actual  and  visible,  the 
constituent  elements  of  the  Church  are  persons  not  only  as  individuals,, 
but  also  as  representing  families,  according  to  the  general  principles  of  all 
the  covenants  of  God.  So  in  defining  the  Church  in  greater  or  less  extent 
by  corresponding  modifications,  according  as  the  mind  has  prominent 
before  it  the  whole  or  the  part,  the  definition  of  it  embraces,  according  to 
scripture  usage,  any  variety  of  extent.  As  it  is  gravitation — involving 
the  same  general  idea — whether  as  embodied  in  the  phenomenon  of  the 
apple  foiling  from  the  tree  in  the  sight  of  the  philosopher,  or  in  that  of  the 
earth  retained  in  its  orbit ;  so,  by  reason  of  its  connection  with  the  groat 
ideal,  it  is  the  Church  of  God,  whether  it  be  the  Society  in  the  house  of 
Priscilla,  the  Church  of  the  Saints  at  Philippi,  the  Church  of  many  con- 
gregations and  languages  at  Jerusalem  or  Antioch,  the  Church  at  large 
which  suffered  persecution,  the  General  Assembly  and  Church  of  the  First- 
born whose  names  are  written  in  heaven,  or  the  ideal  Church  of  the  Pur- 


462  APPENDIX. 

pose  of  Redemption, — wbicb  Christ  loved  before  the  world  began,  and  for 
which  be  gave  lumself  in  tlie  Eternal  Covenant. 

Such  accordingly  is  the  definition  of  the  Church,  as  a  point  of  Calvinistic 
-doctrine,  in  the  Westminster  Confession.  The  entire  article  forms  one 
definition,  containing,  in  their  logical  order,  the  three  elementary  ideas 
wiiich  enter  into  the  complex  whole,  in  three  distinct  paragraphs :  first. 
the  Church  ideal,  or  invisible  ;  second,  this  ideal  as  manifest  and  actual  in 
the  Church  visible  ;  third,  this  visible  body  as  an  organic  body,  receiving 
risible  officers,  laws,  and  ordinances  from  her  great  Head. 

Any  definition  of  the  Church,  therefore,  is  doctrinally  defective,  which 
ignores  either  of  these  elements,  the  internal  call  (^Kh'/cic)  of  the  Spirit,  the 
■external  klesis  of  the  word,  or  the  organic  nature  of  the  cJddesia.  As  with 
the  peculiar  ordinances  of  the  Church, — Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper, — 
the  three  elements  of  the  internal  grace,  the  external  act,  and  the  Divine 
appointment  thereof  are  all  essential  to  the  true  definition, — and  that  is 
ever  a  dangerous  description  which  ignores  either  of  the  three  :  so  with  the 
definition  of  the  Church  itself,  and  for  precisely  like  reasons.  And  hence, 
asamatter  of  fact,  defective  conceptions  of  the  Church  and  of  the  sacraments 
go  ever  baud  in  hand.  When  the  Chirrch  is  conceived  of  only  as  external 
-and  organized,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  internal  element  of  its  structure, 
then  the  sacraments  become  merely  external  rites,  and  the  administrator 
the  authoritative  dispenser  of  grace  through  them.  When,  on  the  other 
"hand,  the  Church  is  conceived  of  as  wholly  an  internal  thing  as  to  its 
•essential  nature,  then  the  tendency  is  ever  to  conceive  of  the  sacraments, 
in  their  external  character,  as  simply  appropriate  and  suggestive  cere- 
monies, representing  internal  acts  of  the  soul  merely,  rather  than  as  the 
means  of  grace  to  the  soul ;  and  the  administrator  of  the  sacraments,  not 
so  much  God's  authorized  minister,  as  one  chosen  by  the  company  to 
preside  merely  in  the  performance  of  a  solemn  ceremony.  So  of  any 
other  defective  view  of  the  Church.  The  entire  system  of  the  gospel  has 
in  truth  all  its  parts  so  related,  that  error  in  regard  to  any  one  part  must 
in  some  form  affect  every  other  part.  Considering  that  the  gospel  hath 
sprung  from  an  infinitely  perfect  Mind,  it  cannot  be  otherwise. 

The  importance  of  the  foregoing  views,  in  order  to  the  practical  exposi- 
tion of  the  scripture,  either  devotional  or  practical,  in  the  Church,  will  be 
manifest.  In  fact,  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  confused  and  conflicting 
interpretations  of  many  portions  of  the  word  of  God  arises  from  the  pre- 
vious want  of  a  decision  of  the  question  whether  there  be  a  Church  at  all. 
With  the  advantage  of  this  vagueness  as  to  the  general  subject  concerning 
•v^N  :ich  the  appeal  is  made  to  scripture,  it  is  obviouslj^  impossible  to  settle, 
from  the  mere  words  of  the  scriptures  themselves,  the  true  significancy  of 
their  teachings  on  the  subject.  Hence  errorists,  though  pretending  to 
appeal  to  the  scriptures,  may  give  illimitable  range  to  the  imagination, 


NOTi:    TO    DISCOUKSE    IV.  463 

and,  being  free  to  give  any  one  of  all  possible  meanings  to  the  words  of  tlio 
snored  record,  thereby  deprive  them  of  any  real  significance.  If,  however, 
it  has  been  established  previously  that  a  visible  Cliurch,  in  some  form  or 
other,  is  an  absolute  necessity  of  the  plan  of  redemption  as  revealed  in  the 
scripture.^,  demanded  by  the  natui*e  of  the  plan  itself;  presupposed  by  the 
very  mode  of  revealing  the  plan  ;  essential  as  a  ir.eans  of  communicating 
one  of  its  fundamental  facts  to  the  world,  and  not  less  essential  as  a  means 
of  accomplishing  the  divine  purpose  ;  required  as  a  key  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Sacred  History,  the  prophetic  expositions  of  the  doctrine  of 
j\Iessiah,  and  the  apostolic  teachings  concerning  his  kingly  office  ;  then 
there  are  limits  fixed  within  which  the  language  of  prophets,  evangelists 
and  apostles,  concerning  the  Church  and  its  ordinances,  is  to  have  its  inter- 
pretation, and  which  fix  the  meaning  thereof  with  remarkable  accuracy. 

Having  obtained  this  general  conception  of  the  Church,  we  assume  this  as 
a  positive  standard,  and  turn  now  on  the  other  hand  to  consider  the  relation 
to  this  idea  of  the  Church  of  the  more  important  and  obvious  of  the 
abstract  principles  which  underlie  the  structure  of  this  peculiar  body,  the 
Church  visible — the  great  government  not  reckoned  among  the  nations. 
These  may  be  considered  as  relating  to  four  general  points — the  source  of 
the  Spiritual  power — the  delegation  and  vesting  of  the  power — the  mode 
of  exercising  it — and  the  distinctions  and  limits  of  this  ecclesiastical  power, 
and  that  secular  power  which  also  God  has  ordained  to  the  civil  magistrate. 
1.  The  source  of  all  Church  power  is  primarily  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Mediator.  As  this  is  manifest  from  all  that  has  gone  before  touching  the 
nature  and  idea  of  the  Church,  so  also  it  is  manifest  from  the  most  explicit 
declarations  of  every  scripture  relating  to  the  subject.  Anterior  to  his 
coming  in  the  flesh,  as  Jehovah  he  administered  through  prophets,  priests, 
and  extraordinary  ministers.  The  preamble  to  the  apostolic  commission 
asserts  this  power  as  the  foundation  of  their  authority.  "  Ml  power  is 
^iren  me,  [as  Mediator:]  go  ye,  therefore,"  &c.  And,  accordingly,  all 
power  in  the  Church  is  exercised  by  him  and  in  his  name.  His  apostles 
teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus.*  In  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  the  offender 
is  cut  ofif.f  His  promise  to  the  courts  of  the  Church  is  to  be  present  when 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  his  jiamc.t  And,  in  like  manner,  all 
the  prophetical  views  of  his  relation  to  the  Church  declare  in  effect  the 
government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder.§  Nay,  as  actually  containing  in 
himself,  by  way  of  eminency,  all  the  offices  of  the  Church,  he  is  styled  the 
Apostle,|j  the  Shepherd,ir  the  Chief  Shepherd  andBishop,**  the  Head  of  the 
Church.ft 


*  Acts  iv.  17, 18.  t  I  Cor.  v.  4.  t  Matt,  xviii.  20. 

§  Isa.  ix.  6,  7,  » ;  Luke  i.  32,  S3.  II  Ucb.  iii.  1. 

U  John  X.  11.  •*  1  Peter  ii.  2^. 
ft  Col.  i.  18,  and  Epb.  i.  22. 


464  APPENDIX. 

2.  As  to  the  delegation  and  vesting  of  this  power,  it  is  expressly  taught 
that  he  hath  made  such  delegation,  vesting  the  power  in  men.  Throughout 
the  Old  Testament,  such  is  represented  to  be  the  method  in  which  he 
carried  on  the  administration  of  his  kingdom.  Men  ruled  and  administered 
the  ordinances  and  spake  in  Jehovah's  name.  In  tliat  civil  theocracy,  in 
which  he  ruled  as  local  king, — set  up  to  be  a  type  and  historical  prophesy 
of  his  fnlly  developed  spiritual  commonwealth,  the  New  Testament 
Church — men  commissioned  by  him  ruled  as  judges  and  kings  over  the 
nation,  though  Jehovah  was  King.  So  in  the  delegation  of  power  under 
the  last  dispensation,  distinguished  as  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit,  to  the 
Apostles  he  said,  "  As  my  Father  sent  me,  even  so  I  send  you." 

But  in  neither  case,  whether  under  the  Old  or  New  Testament  dispensa- 
tion, was  this  power  vested  in  the  prophets,  kings,  or  apostles  personally, 
but  as  representative  men.  Not  in  the  office-bearers  of  the  Church,  either, 
as  distinct  from  and  irrespective  of  the  people ;  nor  yet  in  the  people  con- 
templated as  an  aggregation  of  individuals.  In  all  cases  the  power  is 
vested  in  the  Church  as  an  organic  body,  composed  of  both  rulers  and 
ruled.  For  as  God  hath  set  the  members  of  the  body,  so  hath  he  "  set  in 
the  Church,  first,  apostles,  secondly,  prophets,"  &c.  In  every  inspired 
allusion  to  the  power  of  rule  in  the  Church,  the  power  is  represented  as 
vested  in  an  organic  body,  as  the  human  body  with  its  several  members  and 
their  functions.*  And  as  it  has  been  shown  before  that  the  idea  of  the 
Church  from  the  very  first,  even  in  the  purpose  of  redemption,  was  of  an 
organic  body,  the  reason  for  this  peculiar  view  of  the  scripture,  as  to  the 
vesting  of  the  power  is  very  manifest. 

The  power  vests  in  the  body  as  such ;  the  administration  of  the  power  is 
in  office-bearing  members  of  the  body  whom  the  Great  Head  selects,  calls, 
qualifies,  and  commissions  to  rule  ministerially  in  his  name.  The  Holy 
Ghost  makes  them  overseers.  But  yet  the  vocation  to  the  exercise  of  the 
oflfice  is  in  the  people,  who  must  try  the  spirits,  and  judge  whether  they  be 
men  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  in  the  ancient  civil  theocracy 
in  which  Jehovah  reigned  as  local  king  invisibly,  through  a  visible  king  as 
his  minister,  chosen  and  commissioned  by  himself; — though  Jehovah's  own 
prophet  has  formally  anointed  David  king,  that  call  and  commission  from 
God  did  yet  not  actually  constitute  David  king  until,  after  long  years  of 
trouble  and  darkness,  Judah  first,  and  then  all  Israel,  called  him  to  the 
throne.  So  in  this  spiritual  kingdom  of  Christ,  though  the  appointment  to 
office,  the  qualification  and  commission,  are  from  him,  the  true  invisible 
Head  of  the  kingdom,  yet  the  vocation  to  the  actual  exercise  of  the  office  so 
conferred  is  in  the  people.  In  this  sense  of  vocation  alone,  and  not  in  the 
sense  of  power  delegated  by  the  people  to  their  office-bearers,  are  they,  in 


Rom.  xii. ;  1  Cor.  xii. :  Eph.  iv.  4. 


XvOTE  TO  DiscoUKs::  IV.  4G'j 

any  case,  the  representatives  of  the  people.  If,  as  has  been  shown,  th-? 
idea  of  the  Church,  as  one  great  body,  is  essential  in  the  system  of  redemp- 
tion, and  if  in  the  body  as  snch  are  vested  the  powers  of  external  govern- 
ment, and  that  in  the  form  of  office-bearers  provided  by  the  Great  Head  and 
given  to  the  Church,  to  be  called  to  the  actual  exercise  of  these  functions 
only  by  the  people,  then  they  are  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  liold 
relations  to  the  whole  Church  of  God  which  preclude  the  idea  of  their  being 
exclusively  the  representatives  of  any  given  part  of  the  people.  Hence  the 
parallel  between  the  Church  as  a  spiritual  commonwealth  and  the  civil 
republic  is  wholly  fanciful,  or  implies  a  theory  of  the  idea  and  nature  of 
the  Church  fundamentally  diflFerent  from  that  presented  in  the  former  i)art 
of  this  discussion. 

3.  As  to  the  mode  in  which  the  power  of  government  shall  be  exerci-'^^'d 
there  is  this  remarkable  peculiarity  in  the  view  set  forth  in  the  Scripture 
history  of  every  era  of  the  Church,— viz. :  that  whilst  the  office-bearers 
have  severally  certain  functions  to  discharge,  as  of  teaching,  administering 
sacraments,  and  oversight,  yet  all  power  of  jurisdiction  is  to  be  exercised 
only  through  tribunals.  The  fundamental  and  only  office  of  jurisdiction, 
alike  in  the  Church  under  all  dispensations,  is  the  office  of  elders,  Presbu- 
teroi.  The  title  Episcopos,  occurring  not  over  half  a  dozen  times  in  the 
Xew  Testament,  seems  used  only  in  speaking  to  or  of  Gentiles  unfamiliar 
with  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  language  of  the  Church,  and  hence  e-icicn-rg 
is  really  nothing  more  than  a  Grecian  equivalent  for  the  Jewish  ecclesias- 
tical term  Preshuterol.  From  the  first  to  the  last  of  the  dispensations  of 
God  recorded  in  Scripture,  as  before  shown,  the  uniform  exponent  of  a 
government  in  the  Church  is  the  office  of  the  elders,  Prcsbuteroi ;  and  if 
a  name  of  distinction  for  the  Church  visible,  considered  as  a  form  of  spiri- 
tual government,  is  to  be  applied  to  it,  ^^Presbyterian"  has  been  the  proper 
title  from  the  days  of  Israel  in  Egypt  to  the  present.  Of  course  we  mean 
this  in  no  offensive  denominational  sense,  but  simply  as  the  statement  of  a 
philological  fact  of  the  scriptures. 

Now,  taking  this  title  to  be  expressive  of  government  in  the  Church,  the 
flict  that,  uniformly,  throughout  the  Scripture,  a  plurality  of  these  office- 
bearers is  always  indicated,  whether  referring  to  their  existence  in  a  par- 
ticular community  or  Church,  or  to  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  thereiu,  is, 
in  itself,  little  short  of  demonstration  that  their  power  is  exercised  onlv 
jointly  and  in  tribunals.  It  is  ever  the  elders  of  a  city  or  Church  in  any 
locality,  never  the  elder;  it  is  ever  the  elders  who  sit  in  council,  who  act  in 
the  name  of  the  people,  who  consult  together  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the 
Church.  There  is  not  a  case  that  the  author  is  aware  of,  in  all  the  scrip- 
tures ia  which  an  ordinary  office-bearer  ever  exercised  jurisdiction  alone. 
He  acts  always  as  one  constituting  a  member  of  a  tribunal. 

And  whilst  this  power  is  thus  limited  in  the  mode  of  its  exercise,  it  also 

KE 


466  APPENDIX. 

ts  limited  as  to  its  end,  which  is  wholly  spiritual.  In  fall  accordance  with 
the  idea  of  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world,  and  of  the  power  of  men  in  it  as 
wholly  ministerial,  is  the  end  for  which  it  is  exercised.  It  is  spiritual :  it 
is  to  gain  our  brother.  It  is  that  the  spirit  of  him  against  whom  this  power 
is  exercised  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  is  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  his  people,  and  for  the  Lord's  business  for  the  peace  and  harmony 
of  the  Church,  for  the  extension  of  the  Church,  and  for  Jehovah's  glory. 

4.  Touching  the  distinction  between  the  power  ecclesiastical  and  the  civil 
power, — which  latter  is  ordained  by  God  also, — the  points  of  contrast  are  so 
numerous  and  so  fundamental  that  nothing  but  the  confusion  of  mind  arising 
from  the  oppression  of  Ccesar,  and  Antichrist  backed  by  the  power  of  Caesar 
could  ever  have  caused  the  obscurity  and  inconsistency  of  the  Church's 
testimony  in  modern  times.  For  they  have  nothing  in  common  except  that 
both  powers  are  of  divine  authority,  both  concern  t'he  race  of  mankind,  and 
both  were  instituted  for  the  glory  of  God  as  a  final  end.  In  respect  to  all 
else — their  origin,  nature  and  immediate  end,  and  in  their  mode  of  exercis- 
ing the  power, — they  difiFer  fundamentally.     Thus,  they  differ : — 

(1.)  In  that  the  civil  power  derives  its  authority  from  God  as  the  Author 
of  nature,  whilst  the  power  ecclesiastical  comes  alone  from  Jesus  as 
Mediator. 

(2.)  In  that  the  rule  for  the  guidance  of  the  civil  power  in  its  exercise  is 
the  light  of  natui'e  and  reason,  the  law  which  the  Author  of  nature  reveals 
through  reason  to  man ;  but  the  rule  for  the  guidance  of  ecclesiastical 
power  in  its  exercise  is  that  light  which,  as  Prophet  of  the  Church,  Jesus 
Christ  has  revealed  in  his  word.  It  is  a  government  under  statute  laws 
already  enacted  by  the  King. 

(3.)  They  differ  in  that  the  scope  and  aim  of  the  civil  power  are  limited 
properly  to  things  seen  and  temporal ;  the  scope  and  aim  of  ecclesiastical 
power  are  things  unseen  and  spiritual.  Religious  is  a  term  not  predicable  of 
the  acts  of  the  State ;  political  is  a  term  not  predicable  of  the  acts  of  the 
Church.  The  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are  things  con- 
cerning which  Caesar  can  have  rightfully  no  cognizance,  except  indirectly 
and  incidentally  as  these  things  palpably  affect  the  temporal  and  civil 
concerns  of  men ;  and  even  then  Caesar  cannot  be  too  jealously  watched 
by  the  Church.  The  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  Caesar  are  mat- 
ters of  which  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  an  organic  government,  can  have  no 
cognizance,  except  incidentally  and  remotely  as  affecting  the  spiritual 
interests  of  men ;  and  even  then  the  Church  cannot  watch  herself  too 
jealously. 

(4.)  They  differ  in  that  the  significant  symbol  of  the  civil  power  is  the 
sword ;  its  government  is  a  government  of  force,  a  terror  to  evil-doers ; 
but  the  significant  symbol  of  Church  power  is  the  keys,  its  government 
only  ministerial,   the  functions   of  its   officers  to   open  and   close  and 


NOTE    TO    DISCOURSE    IV.     ,  4G7 

have  a  care  of  a  house  already  complete  as  to  its  structure  externally,  and 
internally  organized  and  provided. 

(5.)  They  differ  in  that  civil  power  may  be  exercised  as  a  several  power 
by  one  judge,  magistrate,  or  governor;  but  all  ecclesiastical  power  per- 
taining to  government  vs  a  joint  power  only,  and  to  be  exercised  by  tribu- 
nals. The  Head  of  the  government  has  not  seen  fit  to  confer  spiritual 
power  of  jurisdiction  in  any. form  upon  a  single  man,  nor  authorized  the 
exercise  of  the  functions  of  rule  in  the  spiritual  conmjonwealth  as  a  several 
power. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  digress  here  into  a  discussion  of  the  rationale  of 
these  fundamental  distinctions.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show,  however, 
that  they  are  neither  accidental  nor  arbitrary,  but  spring  out  of  those 
fundamental  truths  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Church  itself,  and  of  its 
relations  to  the  gospel,  which  have  already  been  pointed  out.  These 
distinctions,  therefore,  are  of  a  nature  to  forbid  all  idea  of  any  concurrent 
jurisdiction,  and  to  render  certain  the  corruption  and  final  apostasy  of  any 
part  of  the  Church  which  shall  persist  in  the  attempt  to  exist  as  a  govern- 
mental power  concurrent  with  the  State, — it  matters  not  whether  as  supe- 
rior, inferior,  or  equal.  They  are  the  two  great  powers  that  be,  and  are 
ordained  of  God  to  serve  two  distinct  ends  in  the  great  scheme  devised  for 
man  as  fallen.  The  one  is  set  up,  in  the  mercy  and  forbearance  of  the 
Author  of  nature  toward  the  apostate  race  at  large,  to  hold  in  check  the 
outworking  of  that  devilish  nature  consequent  upon  the  apostasy,  and  to  fur- 
nish a  platform,  as  it  were,  on  which  to  carry  on  another  and  more  amazing 
scheme  of  mercy  toward  a  part  of  mankind.  The  other  is  designed  to 
constitute  of  the  families  of  earth  that  call  upon  his  name,  and  into  tiie 
hearts  of  which  his  grace  has  yiit  enmity  toward  Satan  and  his  seed,  a 
nation  of  priests,  a  peculiar  nation,  not  reckoned  among  the  nations,  of 
whom  Jehovah  is  the  God  and  they  are  his  people.  That  not  only  the 
utter  disregard  of  this  distinction  in  the  formal  union  of  the  Church  and 
State — either  merging  the  Church  in  the  State  or  the  State  in  the  Church 
— is  destructive  of  the  Church,  but  that,  also,  any  degree  of  confusion  in 
respect  of  this  distinction  is  proportionably  dangerous  and  corrupting,  the 
history  of  the  Reformed  Churches  generally,  and  in  particular  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  is  a  most  striking  illustration.  Nay,  the  entire  history  of  the 
Church,  from  its  first  organization,  testifies  that  his  people  must  render  to 
Ca3sar  the  things  that  arc  Ciesar's  as  distinct  from  rendering  to  God  the 
things  that  are  God's,  or  the  Church  suffers. 

But,  it  may  be  proper  to  add  here  to  prevent  misapprehension  of  the 
author's  views,  that  the  Scriptures,  in  their  teachings  concerning  spiritual 
government,  go  beyond  the  enumeration  of  certain  abstract  truths  merely. 
They  set  forth  with  equal  clearness  the  specific  forms  in  which  these  truths 
are  embodied  in  the  scheme  of  government  appointed  for  the  Church,  both 


468  APPENDIX. 

in  reference  to  the  officers  and  the  courts  thereof.  As  to  the  offices  to  be 
executed  in  a  community  whose  real  ruler  is  invisible, — Jesus  Christ, — 
whether  considered  either  as  acting  personally  or  through  the  movements 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  functions  arv-^  necessarily  ministerial  only,  and  are 
therefore  readily  determined  by  the  nature  and  design  of  the  kingdom  itself. 
If,  as  we  have  seen,  this  kingdom  is  in  its  nature  the  outward  development 
and  a  mode  of  revealing  a  purpose  to  gather  an  elect  body  out  of  the  race, 
and,  considered  as  to  its  design,  is  an  institute  for  the  calling,  gathering, 
and  preparatory  training  of  the  elect  out  of  the  successive  ages  of  time, 
then  these  official  functions  have  reference  to  developing  the  purpose  and 
accomplishing  this  design,  and  therefore  must  relate  to  three  things  exclu- 
sively,— viz. :  the  call  of  the  elect  into  communion  and  keeping  up  their  com- 
munion with  Christ  the  Head, — that  is  the  ministry  of  the  ordinances  ;  the 
preserving  the  order  and  harmony  of  the  body,  — that  is,  government  and 
discipline ;  and  the  provision  for  and  care  of  the  revenues  of  the  commu- 
nity. 

In  perfect  consistency,  therefore,  with  these  views  of  the  nature  and 
design  of  the  Church,  and  the  corresponding  functions  needful  for  the 
ministry  of  "  doctrine,  discipline,  and  distribution,"  the  scriptures  exhibit, 
as  the  three  classes,  of  divinely  appointed  officers,  first,  ministers  who  both 
rule  and  administer  the  ordinances, — a  double  office  necessarily  growing 
out  of  the  essential  connection  between  the  word  and  the  spiritual  govern- 
ment founded  upon  it;  second,  ministers  of  rule  only,  and  in  spirituals 
only, — an  oflSce  arising  out  of  the  nature  and  joint  power  of  the  govern- 
ment as,  in  idea,  distinct  from  the  several  powers  of  administering  ordi- 
nances, both  of  which  unite  in  the  first-named  office ;  third,  the  minister  of 
temporal  things  pertaining  to  the  community  for  the  keeping  prominent 
that  ordinance  of  the  fellowship  through  which  is  expressed  the  relation  of 
one  to  another,  and  of  one  part  to  another  part  of  this  body,  even  as  the 
other  ordinances  and  government  are  expressive  of  the  relation  of  one  and 
all  to  the  Great  Head. 

It  affects  not  the  substantial  correctness  of  this  view  of  the  permanent 
offices  in  the  Church  as  growing  out  of  the  very  nature  and  desigu  of  the 
Church,  and  therefore  necessarily  in  substance  the  same  in  all  ages  of  the 
Church,  that  under  the  several  dispensations  recorded  in  scripture  God 
raised  up  extraordinary  officers  at  divers  times  and  of  divers  sorts,  as  judges, 
prophets,  apostles,  &c.  Nor  does  it  any  more  affect  this  argument  and 
threefold  classification  of  the  officers  that,  under  different  dispensations, 
any  one  of  the  three  offices  should  have  been  discharged  by  two  or  more 
persons  in  the  different  aspects  of  it,  as  when  both  priest  and  prophet  of 
the  Old  Testament  discharged  in  effect  the  functions  of  the  preacher  of  the 
word  of  the  New  Testament.  For  if  the  offices  arise  out  of  the  nature  and 
design  of  the  Church,  the  fundamental  element  of  a  proper  classification  is 


NOTE   TO   DISCOURSE   IV.  4G9 

the  function  itself,  rather  than  the  functionary.  During  the  era  of  imme- 
diate inspiration,  such  changes  of  mere  form  were  made  by  the  same  great 
authority  which  first  instituted  the  ofhce  ;  and,  indeed,  during  tlie  progress 
of  the  Church  under  a  progressive  and  incomplete  revelation,  such  cliangea 
must  occur,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  with  tlie  changes  of  the  forms 
of  the  ordinances,  according  as  successive  new  revelations  presented 
Messiah,  the  great  object  of  worship,  in  new  aspects.  It  is  only  after  the 
revelation  is  complete  and  the  immediate  inspiration  witlidrawu  from  the 
Church  that  the  forms  of  the  ordinances,  government,  and  offices  of  the 
Church  must  thenceforth  remain  stationary',  and  just  at  the  point  in  which 
the  last  and  highest  development  of  the  revelation  left  tliem.  The  limits 
of  this  note  forbid,  and  the  general  familiarity  with  this  branch  of  the 
subject  renders  unnecessary,  any  argument  in  detail  to  show  that  the  last 
and  complete  development  of  the  Church  under  the  apostles  exliibit,  as  the 
three  ordinary  and  permanent  officers  thereof,  elders  who  rule,*  the  funda- 
mental office  of  the  Church,  as  a  government,  from  the  first  to  the  last; 
elders  who  both  rule  and  labour  in  word  and  doctrine  ;t  deaconsj  who 
represent  the  fellowship  of  the  members  of  the  Church  in  each  other's 
gifts,  and  who  have  care  of  its  revenues  and  the  necessities  of  the  poor. 

As  to  the  courts  of  the  Church,  the  essential  relation  of  these  to  the 
foregoing  general  views  of  the  idea  and  nature  of  the  Church  is  manifest, 
and,  indeed,  has  already  been  pointed  out  in  what  has  been  said  touching 
tlie  governmental  power  in  the  Church  as  exercised  always  jointly  and  by 
tribunals.  But  the  other  principle  needs  here  to  be  brought  iuto  view 
which  also  has  already  been  referred  to  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  discussion 
as  a  fundamental  peculiarity  in  the  definition  of  the  Church.  This  is  the 
faot  that  the  oneness  of  the  Church  is  so  absolute  by  reason  of  the  connec- 
tion of  the  visible  with  the  invisible,  as  the  actual  development  of  the  ideal, 
that  the  definition  of  the  Church  is  substantially  the  definition,  at  the  same 
time,  either  of  the  whole  or  any  part  thereof.  From  this  it  follows,  in 
coming  to  regard  the  Church  as  a  governmental  power,  that  the  power  of 
the  whole  is  over  the  power  of  every  part  thereof,  and  also  the  power  of 
the  whole  in  every  part  thereof.  Hence,  therefore,  the  same  power  is  in 
every  tribunal  that  is  in  any  tribunal,  whilst  the  power  of  the  greater  part 
is  over  the  power  of  the  smaller  part.  As  it  is,  the  Church  of  God,  whethir 
considered  as  the  body  meeting  in  a  single  house,  or  the  body  in  Jesusalem, 
or  Ephesus,  or  Antioch,  composed  of  bodies  meeting  in  different  houses 
and  worshipping  in  different  languages,  or  whether  considered  as  the 
whole  body  of  the  Churches  of  Judea,  Samaria,  and  Galilee  ;  so  tribunals, 
in  a  corresponding  extent  of  jurisdiction,  must  of  necessity  exist  in  order 
to  the  discharge  of  the  functions  which  we  have  seen  are  an  absolute  con- 


*  Rom.xii  8  ;  1  Tim.  v.  17  ;  Heb.  xiii.  17.     f  Ileb.  xiii.  7,  8  ;  1  Tim.  v.  17. 
X  Acts  vi.  4,  7 ;  1  Tim.  iii.  8. 


470  T^PPENDIX. 

dition  of  the  existence  of  the  Church  as  one  visible  body,  all  the  parts 
thereof  in  active  communion  with  the  Head.  And  here  also  is  involved 
the  consequence  that  in  all  ages  of  the  Church  the  tribunals  thereof,  as  to 
their  functions,  must  be  essentially  the  same,  notwithstanding,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  officers  of  the  Church,  the  progressive  revelation  under  the 
admini:;tration  of  men  immediately  inspired  may  and  must  produce  changes 
in  the  form  of  discharging  these  functions,  until  the  completed  revelation 
and  the  withdrawal  of  inspiration  shall  at  last  leave  them  permanent  in 
form  as  well  as  in  substance. 

Now  the  Scriptures  exhibit,  accordingly,  this  actual  uniformity  of 
government,  by  a  series  of  tribunals  representing  the  different  extents  of 
the  meaning  of  the  word  Church,  as  existing  under  every  dispensation. 
Elders  and  ministers  of  the  word  form  their  constituent  elements, — and 
that  in  tribunals  having  jurisdiction  of  various  degrees  of  extent,  from 
a  single  community  of  worshippers  up  to  that  over  the  whole  visible  body. 
Such  was  the  structure  of  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  as  distinct  from  the 
civil,  under  the  first  general  organization  of  Moses  ;  such  it  appears  in  all 
the  subsequent  history,  whenever  occasion  calls  for  a  reference  to  it.  Such 
we  find  it,  beyond  all  controversy,  at  the  opening  of  the  New  Testament, 
as  appears  from  the  numerous  allusions  to  the  synagogue  with  its  elders 
and  chief  ruler,  and  to  the  sanhedrim  of  chief  priests,  priests,  and  elders ; 
and  such,  with  scarce  a  single  important  modification,  do  we  find  the 
government  of  the  Church  under  the  apostles ;  and  so  left  as  the  perpetual 
order  of  government  for  the  Church. 

Thus,  with  remarkable  consistency,  the  Scriptures  are  found  exhibiting 
the  same  great  idea  of  tlie  Church,  as  pervading  all  the  details  of  office  and 
government  ernbodied  in  the  actual  forms  which  the  Church  assumed 
throug-h  all  the  ages  of  inspiration. 

As  concerning  the  form  finally  developed  at  the  close  of  inspira- 
tion, and  which,  therefore,  is  to  remain  the  perpetual  form  of  government 
for  the  Church  under  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  till  the  second  coming 
of  Christ,  it  would  not  be  consistent  with  the  design  of  a  volume  not 
intended  to  be  distinctively  denominational  to  enter  upon  the  discussion  of 
that  question.  The  purpose  of  this  note  is  to  set  forth  the  fundamental 
itiportance  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  as  part  of  the  gospel  doctrine, 
not  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  distinctive  forms  of  the  author's  own 
Church. 

The  importance  of  this  idea  of  the  Church,  and  its  direct  bearing  upon 
the  question  of  worship  in  the  Church,  will  be  pointed  out  in  a  brief  note 
to  Discourse  X. 

If  this  note  may  seem  to  any  to  be  very  extended,  or  in  any  way  aside 
from  the  general  subject  of  the  volume,  it  is  needful  only  to  remind  such 
that  the  principles  here  set  forth  furnish  the  clue  to  a  large  part  of  the 
biblical  interpretation  upon  which  the  discourses  are  founded. 


NOTE  C.  TO  DISCOURSE  X. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  SEVERAL  ORDINA^XES  OF  TUBLTC  WORSHIP 
AND  THEIR  RELATION  TO  THE  IDEA  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


The  fundamental  conception  of  all  true  external  worship  and  ordinances  of 
worship  is,  on  the  one  hand,  to  be  the  channel  of  communication  for  the 
voice  of  God  to  the  soul,  and,  on  the  other,  of  the  soul  of  the  worshipper 
answering  back  to  God. 

Concerning  the  ordinances  of  public  worship,  what  they  are  in  kind,  and 
in  what  manner  to  be  performed,  there  can  be  little  question  among  those 
who  agree  in  holding  the  scriptures  to  be  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
worship.  Reading,  expounding,  and  preaching  the  word;  blessing  the 
people;  prayer,  singing  praise,  and  the  act  of  fellowship  in  the  collection ; 
these,  together  with  the  sacraments,  (which  as  complex  ordinances  are  best 
left  to  a  separate  consideration,)  and  discipline,  which  cannot  here  be  con- 
sidered, are  the  ordinances  of  scriptural  authority  in  the  public  worship  of 
God.  Here,  then,  are  plainly  appointed  the  two  sorts  of  acts  of  worship 
which  express  the  communion  between  the  Great  Head  of  the  kingdom  and 
the  citizens  thereof.  The  minister  of  the  worship  stands,  in  the  reading, 
expounding,  and  preaching  the  word,  and  in  the  benediction  and  pro- 
nouncing sentence  of  discipline,  to  speak  for  God  to  men  ;  and  in  the 
prayer  to  speak  for  men  to  God.  And  in  addition  to  the  prayer,  by  which 
the  people,  in  one  form,  make  response  to  the  voice  of  God  through  the 
representative  voice  of  the  minister ;  in  the  ordinance  of  singing  praise 
provision  is  made  for  each  worshipper  to  make  response  for  himself;  and 
therefore  the  choice  of  this  form  of  utterance  in  harmonious  sounds,  that 
the  voice  of  response  from  the  great  congregation,  each  for  himself,  may,  as 
an  external  act  of  worship,  be  without  harshness  and  confusion.  The 
bearing  of  this  view  of  singing  praise  in  public  worship  upon  the  question 
whether  it,  like  the  prayer,  shall  be  done  representatively  by  a  few,  or  by 
the  whole  congregation,  is  very  obvious. 

Once  the  nature  of  the  ordinances  of  worship  is  properly  apprehended, 
and  their  relation  to  the  idea  of  the  Church,  it  at  once  separates  them  in 
idea  from  every  other  kind  of  acts  analogous  to  or  resembling  them.  The 
reading  of  the  word  in  the  public  worship  is  a  solemn  official  ministration 
for  Christ,  and  the  utterance  of  his  voice  to  the  people.  Hence  the  custom 
so  earnestly  urged  as  an  expediency  by  many  who  hold  high  views  of  the 
dignity  and  sacredness  of  the  ministry,  of  reading  the  scriptures  at  public 
worship  in  alternate  portions  by  minister  and  people,  originates  in  a  mani- 
fest misconception  of  the  nature  of  that  ordinance  of  reading  the  Avord,  and 
tends  to  obscure  in  the  minds  of  the  people  its  true  relation  to  the  worship 
as  belonging  to  the  class  of  acts  in  which  the  minister  speaks  for  God  to 


472  APPENDIX. 

men.  The  expounding  of  the  -word  is  no  mere  display  of  critical  learning 
or  skill,  but  the  solemn  unfolding  of  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  the  word. 
The  preaching  of  the  word  can  no  longer  be  mistaken  for  skilful  teaching, 
or  elegant  speech,  or  profound  reasoning,  or  labouring  to  convert  men ; 
all  these  may  be  involved  in  it  as  incidents  ;  but  the  preaching  of  the  word 
is  essentially  the  uttering  the  message  of  Christ  to  men,  and  applying  it  to 
the  soul ;  it  is  the  taking  that  word  which  Christ,  as  the  Prophet  of  the 
Church,  hath  uttered,  and,  through  the  usual  forms  of  operating  by  speech 
upon  the  human  soul,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  making  it  still  the 
voice  of  Christ  to  men  now,  as  really  as  it  was  to  those  to  whom  it  was 
first  uttered.  In  this  aspect  of  his  work,  and  assuming  him  to  be  both 
teacher  and  pastor,  the  preacher  of  the  new  is  the  true  successor  of  the 
prophet  of  the  old  dispensation.  In  the  one  case,  the  revelation  not  yet 
"being  completed,  the  prophet  gathered  from  direct  communication  with 
God  his  message  to  be  delivered,  and  then  permanently  recorded  it  as 
God's  voice ;  in  the  other  case,  the  revelation  being  now  complete,  the 
preacher  has  that,  as  the  permanent  oracle,  from  which,  led  by  the  Spirit, 
he  is  to  gather  the  message  of  God,  and,  by  every  proper  means  of  reach- 
ing the  human  soul,  lodge  it  there,  as  the  message  of  God.  So  the  bene- 
diction upon  the  people  is  the  word  of  God  to  men.  It  is  not  of  the  class 
with  the  prayer  and  praise  which  it  resembles  in  form,  but  belongs  to  the 
other  class  of  acts  in  which  the  minister  speaks  for  God  to  men,  and 
perhaps  is  most  nearly  analogous  to  the  authoritative  sentence  of  discipline 
which  it  is  his  office  also  to  pronounce.  The  act  of  fellowship  in  the 
collection  for  pious  uses  is  more  complex  as  an  act  of  worship,  but  is  pro- 
perly reckoned  also  among  the  responsive  acts  of  the  people,  whereby  they 
give  expression  to  the  communion  that  exists  between  all  the  members 
and  all  the  parts  of  the  one  great  body,  through  the  communion  of  each  and 
all  with  Christ  the  Head.  Thus  every  ordinance  of  the  Church  in  detail 
is  perceived  to  have  its  significanc}'',  its  reason,  and  its  distinction  from 
everything  else  that  is  not  an  ordinance  of  worship,  on  account  of  its  rela- 
tion to  the  same  fundamental  idea  of  the  Church  external  and  actual,  as  at 
once  the  development  of  the  great  ideal,  and  as  the  instrument  for  the 
final  and  perfect  accomplishment  of  the  great  ideal  of  the  purpose  of 
redemption. 

Still  more  direct  is  the  relation  of  the  idea  of  the  sacraments  to  the  idea 
of  the  Church  visible  as  an  organized  spiritual  community.  For  the  two 
sacraments  of  the  Church,  alike  under  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  are 
but  the  signs  and  seals  of  the  two  special  covenants  in  the  great  series  of 
covenant-revelations,  by  one  of  which  i^ne  Church  visible  was  constituted, 
and  by  the  other,  the  full  and  complete  r^edemption  of  the  Church  so  consti- 
tuted was  guaranteed.  The  sacramental  seal  of  the  charter  covenant  of 
the  Church,  circumcision,  as  all  other  ordinances  of  the  Old  Testament, 
expressed  faith  as  fVom  a  prophetic  stand-point,  and  a  desire  for  regenera- 


NOTE   C.    TO    DISCOURSE   X.  4/3 

tion  as  the  cuttdtig  off  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh  ;  baptism  expresses  faith  from 
a  historic  stand-point,  and  coutempUitcs  prominently  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  power  which  alone  can  effect  the  regeneration.  Thus, 
however  apparently  unlike  the  symbol,  the  thing  signified  in  both  is  tho 
same, — viz.,  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  regenerator  and  sanctifier  of  the  elect 
ones  of  the  eternal  covenant. 

These  observations  bring  into  view  a  peculiarity  of  all  these  seals  of  tho 
covenant,  alike  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments, — viz.:  that  the  seal  is 
itself  of  such  kind  and  form  as  to  signify  visibly  the  great  idea  contained 
iii  the  instrument  to  which  it  Is  attached.  Thus,  as  just  observed,  the 
circumcision  or  baptism  symbolizes  the  renunciation  of  the  sin  character- 
istic naturally  of  the  seed  of  the  serpent,  and  that  regeneration  of  the 
nature  by  divine  power  which  puts  the  enmity  between  the  seeds  ;  thus  it 
becomes  significant  of  a  translation  into  the  body  of  the  elect  seed  to 
become  the  Lord's  people.  The  passover,  or  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  at  once 
commemorative  of  the  deliverance  of  the  elect  body  from  death,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  the  spiritual  life  as  nourished  only  by  communion  with  their 
King  and  Deliverer.  So  that  in  each  case  the  seal  becomes  a  sign  also,  and 
therefore  the  sacraments,  as  external  acts  of  worship,  become  seals  and 
signs  of  internal  grace,  and  involve,  in  one  and  the  same  act,  both  parts  of 
the  communion  which  constitute  worship, — the  word  of  God  to  the  soul, 
and  the  response  of  the  soul  to  that  word, — both  words  made  visible  to 
the  senses,  and  at  the  same  time  nsed  as  the  instrumentality  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  confer  the  blessings  symbolized. 

As  circumcision  or  baptism,  therefore,  is  the  seal  of  the  covenant  which 
first  constituted  the  visible  Church,  so,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  it 
becomes  the  sacrament  which  continually  perpetuates  the  visible  Church. 
It  is  the  entering  into  solemn  contract  to  be  Jehovah's  people,  as  he 
contracts  to  be  the  God  of  all  such  in  the  original  instrument.  As  that 
original  instrument  expressly  provides  that  the  family  principle,  which  had 
obtained  in  all  the  previous  as  in  all  subsequent  covenants,  shall  still  be 
recognized  as  fundamental  under  this  covenant  charter  of  the  new  visible 
community,  so  that  principle  must  continue  to  be  recognized  under  all  dis- 
pensations and  changes  of  the  form  of  the  seal.  As  the  original  social 
organization  out  of  which  the  Church  grew  was  the  family,  so  the  consti- 
tuent elements  of  the  visible  Church,  from  the  first,  were  families.  Its 
members  are  not  individual  believers  merely,  but  their  seed  also  with  them. 
And,  as  we  have  already  shown  that  tuis  community,  in  essential  idea  and 
in  fact,  remains  the  same  under  all  changes  of  dispensation,  so  it  is  still 
constituted  of  the  same  elements  as  at  first. 

And  as  the  one  sacrament  is  thus  made  the  instrument  of  a  perpetual 
process  of  creating  the  visible  Church  itself,  so  the  other  sacrament  is  a  per- 
petual attestation  of  the  great  promise  to  redeem  his  elect  covenant  people, 
and  on  their  part  of  their  simple  reliance  on  that  promise  for  salvation,  and 


474  APPENDIX. 

their  renewal  of  the  cugagemeut  to  be  his  people,  ruled  and  guided  hy  him- 
as  their  King  and  Head.  As,  then,  in  the  ministration  of  the  word,  the 
minister  commissioned  of  Christ  speaks  for  Christ  to  men,  so  in  the  sacra- 
ments he  stands  as  Christ's  authorized  attorney,  to  exhibit  his  covenant  and 
receive  from  men  their  seal  to  it.  The  sacraments  thus  become  special 
means  of  grace,  exhibiting,  as  they  do,  the  whole  promise  of  the  gospel  in 
substance  in  the  form  of  a  solemn  bond  closed  and  sealed.  His  people,  by 
reason  of  sin  and  manifold  temptations,  ever  prone  to  doubt,  unbelief,  and 
confusion  of  ideas  as  to  the  terms  on  which  they  may  receive  salvation,  aro 
herein  reassured  in  the  strongest  form, — even  the  bond  of  Jehovah ;  and 
they  arc  at  the  same  time  reminded  that  the  simple  terms  of  this  covenant 
alone  are  the  terms  of  salvation,  and  there  are  no  open  questions  touching 
them,  nor  need  they  ever  concern  themselves  as  to  anything  behind  the 
covenant. 

It  is  scarcely  needful  to  add  the  inference  from  the  foregoing  view  that 
where  there  is  no  Church  there  can  be  no  sacraments,  and,  conversel}^,  no 
sacraments,  no  Church,  in  the  sense  of  a  visible  organized  body. 


NOTE  D.  TO  DISCOURSE  X 


RELATION   OF   THE   TEMPORAL    AND    SPIKITUAL    POWERS    HISTO- 
RICALLY CONSIDERED.    THE  SCOTO-AMERICAN  THEORY. 


No  logical  Christian  mind  can  avoid  the  suspicion  that  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  the  true  doctrine  touching  the  relation  of  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  powers  must  have  very  generally  fallen  out  of  the  consciousness 
of  Christendom,  as  he  contemplates  the  singular  fact  that,  after  1800  years 
of  experiment,  the  whole  question  seems  as  unsettled  as  ever ;  and  that 
all  parts  of  Christendom  alike  are  still  divided  and  agitated  by  antagonist 
theories  on  the  subject.  In  Papal  countries,  everywhere,  he  find 3  the  old 
contest  going  on  as  keenly  as  ever,  between  the  various  theories  of  Ultra- 
montanisra  which  make  the  State  a  creature  and  subject  of  the  Church, 
and  of  Cis-Montanism  which  make  the  Church  the  creature  and  subject 
of  the  State.  He  finds  the  continental  Protestantism  aroused  to  ncAV  vigor 
in  the  19th  century,  in  the  conflicts  between  the  various  forms  of  the  old 
Zuinglian,  semi-Erastian  theories,  which  ignore  the  separate  and  indepen- 
dent existence  of  the  Church,  and  the  new  theories  of  the  school  of  Hegel, 
that  the  Church  is  but  an  incidental  and  temporary  aid  to  the  state  in 
developing  its  moral  ideal  of  a  religious  commonwealth  or  theocracy — 
that,  as  Strauss  hath  it,  "  The  Church  U  but  the  crutch  of  the  State ;"  the 
theories  of  the  school  of  Stahl  and  Kleiforth,  that  the  Church  (not  the 
congregation,  but  the  incorporated  officers  and  orders  of  the  Church)  con- 


NOTE    D.    TO   DISCOURSE    X.  475 

stitutes  a  government  above  the  state  ;  or  of  Schleirraachcr,  contending 
for  the  co-existence  of  Church  and  state.  In  Great  Britain,  independent 
of  various  semi-Erastian  denominations  of  Dissenters,  he  finds  the  Angli- 
can Church  agitated  by  earnest  conflict  between  the  theories  of  the  Lords 
in  council  and  the  lawyers,  that  the  Church  is  merely  a  head  servant  of 
the  Crown,  incompetent  to  dismiss  even  her  infidel  servants  from  the 
priesthood,  except  at  the  bidding  of  the  Crown  ;  the  Broad  Church  theo- 
ries of  Arnold,  ignoring  the  separate  existence  of  the  Church,  and,  with 
Ilegel,  contemplating  the  Church  as  a  temporary  means  employed  by  the 
state  in  the  process  of  developing  its  ideal  of  a  Christian  state  ;  and  the 
theories  of  the  school  of  Palmer,  claiming  the  independence  of  the  Church, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  support  from  the  revenues  of  the  state.  In  Scot- 
land, he  finds  the  descendants  of  the  Covenanters  divided  between  the 
theories  of  both  state  support  and  submission  to  state  dictation  by  the 
Church  ;  of  support  from  the  state  without  submission  to  state  dictation, 
and  of  neither  support  from  nor  dictation  by  the  state  to  the  Church. 
And  even  the  yearnings  after  ecclesiastical  union  between  the  evangelical 
bodies  whom  the  secularism  of  state  support  and  dictation  has  driven  out 
of  the  state  Church  at  various  eras,  are  seriously  impeded  in  giving  effect 
to  these  Christian  truths  by  grave  dissensions  on  the  theoretic  question 
whether  the  Church  may  not  sell  her  birth-right  for  the  state's  ''mess  ol 
pottage  !" 

But,  what  is  more  remarkable  still,  he  finds  the  American  Churches,, 
whose  boast  it  has  been  for  near  one  hundred  years  that  here  at  last  the 
Church's  independent  existence  has  been  recognized  by  the  civil  power, 
apparently  eager  to  assume  the  secular  yoke  again  as  if  tired  of  their 
liberty,  to  engage  in  the  service  of  Caesar,  and  shout  with  the  mob,  ''  We 
have  no  king  but  Caesar !"  And,  in  consequence  of  this  tendency,  they 
are  agitated  by  conflicts  similar  to  those  of  the  Churches  under  the  state 
yoke,  between  the  theories — First,  of  what  may  be  called  the  Virginia,  or 
Scoto-American  school,  denying  any  connection  or  co-ordinate  jurisdic- 
tion in  spirituals  or  temporals  between  the  state  and  the  Church  ;  the 
theories  of  the  New  England  school  claiming  the  Church  as  oae  of  the 
agencies  fostered  by  the  state  for  secular  purposes  and  to  develop  the- 
Christian  state  ;  and  the  theories  of  what  may  be  called  the  Gallio  school 
of  entire  indifierence  to  the  whole  question  of  the  relation  of  Church  and 
state  which  so  agitates  all  Christendom. 

Meantime,  he  finds  without  the  enclosures  of  the  Covenant  in  all  Chris- 
tendom, two  great  classes  of  thinkers  among  the  politicians  and  jurists. 
One  class  disposed  to  patronize  the  Church  as  an  important  agency  for 
controlling  the  civil  masses  of  the  people  and  strengthening  the  civil 
Government;  another  class  who  look  upon  the  Church  and  all  claims  on 
her  part  to  authority  and  control  with  extreme  jealousy,  as  a  spiritual  des- 
potism which  is  ever  making  war  upon  liberty  of  thought  and  liberty  of 


476  APPENDIX. 

■conscience.  According  to  these  thorough-going  secularists,  the  Church 
has  for  centuries  past  been  the  great  enemy  of  popular  liberty  and  free 
governments  ;  and  the  martyr-spirit  of  the  politicians  alone  has  sheltered 
the  people  from  the  cruelties  of  the  priesthood.  The  woolfish  sheep  have 
"oeen  constantly  worrying  the  lamb-like  dogs  ;  the  priests,  by  some  super- 
human subtilty,  have  befooled  and  subjugated  the  lawyers  ! 

That  such  a  suspicion  of  some  general  error  underlying  all  these  theo- 
ries is  well  founded,  will  appear  if,  after  the  favourite  method  of  the 
critical  philosophy  of  the  19th  century,  we  proceed  historically  to  review 
the  various  phases  of  this  conception  of  a  relation  between  the  secular  and 
the  spiritual  powers  from  the  earliest  forms  of  its  existence  up  to  what,  in 
•our  judgment,  is  the  true  and  scriptural  view  of  it,  namely,  that  presented 
in  the  views  of  the  fathers  of  the  Scottish  Reformation,  on  the  ecclesiastical 
side ;  and  in  the  views  of  the  fathers  of  the  American  Republic,  on  the 
civil  side  ;  and  which  therefore  we  denominate  the  Sco to- American  theory. 
It  will,  we  think,  appear  from  such  historical  review — First,  that  the 
conception  of  a  use  of  religion  for  state  purposes  is  Pagan  in  its  origin, 
and,  therefore,  impossible,  in  any  form  of  it,  to  be  actualized  under  Chris- 
tianity. Second,  that  the  union  of  the  Church  with  the  state,  whether  as 
subject  to,  superior  to,  or  co-ordinate  with,  the  state  is  due  in  all  cases  to 
the  usurpations  of  the  civil,  rather  than  the  ecclesiastical  power.  Third 
that  the  troubles  and  agitations  on  the  whole  subject  cannot  be  removed 
save  by  a  full  recognition,  both  by  Church  and  state,  of  the  doctrine  of 
Jesus,  "  My  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 

Nothing  can  be  plainer  from  history  than  that  the  idea  of  some  direct  and 
necessary  connection  of  the  civil  power  with  religion  came  not  first  from  the 
Christian  civilizations.  In  all  pagan  nations,  in  all  ages,  the  secular  and  the 
spiritual  powers  have  been  blended  as  inseparable  parts  of  the  same  govern- 
mental machinery.  In  the  Egyptian,  the  Greek  and  the  Roman  civilizations 
alike  the  head  of  the  state  was  at  the  same  time  the  head  of  a  college  of  priests, 
and  the  civil  government  depended  for  its  sanctions  upon  the  mysterious 
power  of  religion.  In  all  alike  religion  assumed  directly  the  place  of  law  to 
the  citizen,  or  stood  a  "power  behind  the  throne  higher  than  the  throne." 
The  wars  which  ravaged  the  ancient  world  were  wars  of  religion  ;  each 
-battle  determined  the  relative  power  of  local  gods.  The  key  to  the  Old 
Testament  history  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  wars  between  the  chosen 
people  and  surrounding  nations  were  wars  of  religion.  That,  in  the  Pagan 
conception,  each  battle  decided  a  theological  question,  and  the  relative 
power  of  Baal,  Ashteroth,  Isis,  Apis,  or  Osiris,  as  compared  with  the 
Jehovah  of  Israel.  Of  this  you  will  find  a  striking  illustration  in  the 
history  of  the  defeat  of  Bcnhadad  and  his  royal  colleagues  with  his  Syrians 
in  the  21st  chapter  of  I.  Kings ;  who,  when  the  "  committee  on  the 
conduct  of  the  war"  inquired  the  cause  of  the  repulse  from  the  hills  of 
Judah,  was  gravely  told,  ''  Their  gods  are  the  gods  of  the  hills — there- 


NOTE   D.    TO    DISCOURSE   X.  477 

fore,  they  were  stronger  than  we.     But  let  us  fight  them  in  the  plain  and 
surely  we  shall  be  stronger  than  they." 

Much  as  has  been  said  of  the  mingling  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  in  the 
Mosaic  constitution,  it  is  a  fact  that  in  that  constitution  only  of  all  the 
ancient  governmental  constitutions  was  the  distinction  beween  the  civil 
and  the  ecclesiastical  powers  carefully  distinguished,  as  Gillespie,  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  has  abundantly  shown. 

The  idea  of  a  blending  of  the  two  powers,  secular  and  spiritual,  is  purely 
a  Paganism  in  its  origin.  Only  in  the  Jewish  nation,  of  all  the  nations  of 
antiquity,  is  to  be  found  any  exception  to  the  general  practice. 

In  all  the  inspired  expositions  of  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  whether 
in  the  Old  or  the  New  Testament,  two  ideas  are  fundamental.  The  first, 
that  his  design  is  not  merely  to  teach  a  doctrine,  and  make  an  atonement, 
but  also  to  found  a  community  and  establish  a  government.  The  other 
idea  is  that  the  power  of  administration  in  this  government,  of  which  he 
is  King,  is  something  distinct  from  that  civil  power  under  which  human 
society  is  organized  for  protection  of  the  life,  liberty,  and  property  of  man. 
That  there  are  duties  to  Caesar  altogether  distinct  from  the  duties  due  to 
him  as  spiritual  King.  That  "His  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 
Accordingly  after  the  full  setting  up  of  this  kingdom,  with  the  Pente- 
costal organization,  his  Apostles  went  forth,  not  only  proclaiming  a  doc- 
trine but  organizing  a  community  ;  and  establishing  a  governmental  power 
over  it  not  only  distinct  from,  but  in  defiance  of  the  civil  governments  of 
the  world.  The  same  men  who  are  dragged  continually  before  civil  tribunals, 
and  immured  in  dungeons,  yet  go  on  discharging  all  the  functions  of 
officers  of  a  government;  from  their  very  prisons  sending  forth  their 
rescripts  and  expositions  of  the  Christian  law ;  and  are  obeyed  as  impli- 
citly, by  the  new  community,  as  if  clothed  with  all  the  authority  of  Caesar. 
With  no  other  resources  of  power  than  its  own  inherent  energy  as  a  spir- 
itual government,  it  spread  its  conquests  and  survived  all  efforts  for  its 
extermination ;  and  before  three  hundred  years  elapsed  it  had  become  a 
more  truly  universal  kingdom  than  any  of  the  Caesars  ever  ruled. 

But  at  the  opening  of  the  4th  century,  just  when,  through  the  genius  of 
Cyprian,  the  notion  of  the  ministry  as  the  incorporate  Church,  and  of 
the  central  episcopate  in  the  Church  as  a  visible  bond  of  unity  for  the  Chris- 
tian community  had  obtained  general  currency,  the  Roman  Emperor  him- 
self suddenly  became  a  convert  from  Paganism  to  Christianity.  His 
previous  heathen  notions  of  the  relation  of  religion  to  the  state  as  an  cle- 
ment of  governmental  power  combined  with  the  state  policy  of  that  parti- 
cular time,  and  with  the  novel  ideas  of  Cyprian  concerning  the  Church  to 
suggest  the  csCablishment  of  Christianilij  in  place  of  Paganism.  Constan- 
tino had  no  conception,  as  a  statesman  educated  in  the  heathen  school,  of 
the  possibility  of  governing  the  state  without  the  aid  of  religion ;  while 
Constantine  as  a  Christian  convert  could  not  longer  make  use  of  Pagan- 


478  APPENDIX. 

ism.  What  more  natural,  therefore,  than  that  the  Christian  religion  and  its 
Priests  should  ba  called  upon  to  discharge  for  the  state  the  functions  which 
Paganism  had  heretofore  discharged  as  part  of  the  government  machin- 
ery !  The  common  form  of  stating  the  origin  of  that  tremendous  ecclesi- 
astical despotism  which  ruled  the  world  for  the  subsequent  thousand  years 
is  to  describe  it  as  a  gradual  encroachment  of  the  ecclesiastical  upon  the 
civil  power.  Whereas  fr.cts  show  it  was  by  a  single  step,  and  that  a  step 
taken  by  the  civil,  not  the  ecclesiastical  power.  The  intelligent  inquirer 
on  this  subject  need  only  study  carefully  the  enactments  of  jus  ecclesiasti- 
cum  in  the  last  sixteen  books  of  the  Theodosian,  (a.d.  429,)  and  the  first 
books  of  the  Justinian  code,  a  hundred  years  later,  to  perceive  that  the  pro- 
cess by  which  the  Christian  Church  became  established  was  not  through 
the  triumph  of  the  ecclesiastics  over  the  lawyers,  and  the  scheming  of  the 
Church  against  the  state.  The  order  and  dates  of  the  ''  constitutions"  or 
■edicts  of  the  emperor  trace  clearly  the  process.  First,  the  prohibition  of 
persecution  of  the  Christians.  Next,  the  permission,  to  the  Church,  of  the 
jus  acquirendi,  or  power  of  holding  estates  through  the  Bishops.  Next 
the  provision  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  by  the  state.  Next  the 
•grant  of  a  large  portion  of  the  spoils  taken  in  war  to  the  Church,  after  the 
•old  heathen  fashion.  Next  giving  the  administration  of  the  Church  to 
the  Bishops.  Next,  immunities  to  the  clergy,  as  a  privileged  class.  Next 
the  transfer  of  all  matters  relating  to  marriages  and  wills  to  the  ecclesias- 
tical court.  Then  the  successive  gifts  of  territories  to  the  Church,  and 
finally,  under  Otho,  in  1201,  the  formal  establishment  of  the  Popedom  as 
a  temporal  po'wer  in  the  states  of  the  Church. 

Of  course  the  State  made  no  such  extensive  grants  of  favors  without  a 
consideration.  The  Church  must  enlist  in  the  service  of  the  State,  by  way 
of  compensating  its  pious  kindness.  To  secure  this  service  the  State  soon 
iDegins  to  claim  to  nominate  Bishops,  and  to  exercise  a  veto  upon  ecclesias- 
tical legislation.  Then  to  decide  questions  of  doctrine  and  liturgy.  Thus, 
as,  according  to  Cyprian's  ecclesiastical  theory,  the  unity  of  sacerdotal 
power  in  the  See  of  Rome  gives  the  Church  all  the  elements  for  a  central 
power  of  control ;  so,  according  to  Constantine's  political  theory,  religion 
being  an  essential  element  of  power  to  the  state,  it  is  therefore  a  plain  conse- 
quence that  through  the  Church,  that  is  the  clergy,  we  may  rule  the  world. 
Once  thus  inaugurated  by  emperors  from  Constantine  to  Clovis,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that,  as  the  civifism  of  Constantine  and  Justinian  becomes  broken  up 
into  feeble  polities,  the  Church  still  holding  fast  to  her  organic  unity,  should 
<;ease  to  feel  dependence  on  the  State;  till  soon  the  Church  rises  higher 
than  the  State,  and  the  Pope  is  above  Cjssar.  What  though  the  State  uoav 
Isegins  to  raise  remonstrance  and  resistance?  Starting  upon  Constan- 
tine's theory,  as  a  premise  admitted,  recognizing  as  the  sum  of  all  law  the 
Theodosian  and  Justinian  codes,— and  receiving,  as  undoubted,  the  Pagan 
axiom  that  tlie  state  aaust  have  a  religion — how  wore  tlie  lawyers  and 


NOTE    D.    TO    DISCOURSE    X.  470 

;Hiblicists  to  resist  the  logic  and  the  towering  genius  of  Gregory  VII,  wlien 
lie  reasoned  out  jind  enacted  the  conclusion  of  the  Church  as  supreme  and 
independent,  and  the  state  as  dependent  ui)on  the  Church  ?  That  the  niediie- 
val  publicists  should  hold  the  Pope  to  be  the  head  of  all  states — to  detlirone 
princes  as  his  vassals  and  absolve  subjects — is  by  no  means  so  absurd  a 
conclusion,  if  the  semi-Pagan  premise  of  Constantine  and  Clovis  be  true. 
Nay,  we  may  go  further,  and  say  that  if  the  premise  of  modern  publicists, 
as  Vattel,  Grotius  and  Puflfendorf,  be  true,  that  the  state,  as  such,  must  have 
a  religion,  it  is  not  easy  for  modern  lawyers,  more  efficiently  than  the 
middle-age  lawyers,  to  resist  the  conclusions  of  Di'.  Brownson,  who  has 
recently  revived  these  doctrines  of  the  mediaeval  Popes,  that  the  spiritual 
is  supreme  and  over  the  temporal.  For  all  the  maxims  of  these  Popes  are 
a  direct  logical  deduction  from  the  original  Constantine  constitution,  and 
from  the  Pagan  notion  of  religion  as  a  part  of  the  state  government. 

Resisted,  as  it  often  was,  this  order  of  things  continued  for  1000  years, 
to  the  Protestant  Reformation.  Let  us  now  notice  briefly  how  the  Church- 
State  doctrine  was  afiected  by  this  great  revolution.  The  Protestant  Refor- 
mation brouglit  about  a  return,  in  faith  and  order,  to  the  model  of  the 
primitive  Church.  It  was,  moreover,  a  successful  effort  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment to  shake  off  spiritual  despotism.  But  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  was 
a  failure,  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  to  shake  off  temporal  despotism. 

The  Reformation  of  the  16th  century  developed  indeed  such  views  of 
the  doctrine  and  order  of  the  Church,  as  would,  if  permitted  to  work  out 
their  logical  results,  have  led  to  a  restoration  of  the  spiritual  independence 
of  Christ's  kingdom.  Luther's  first  ideas  of  the  nature  of  the  Church  were 
in  revolt  against  the  Cyprianic  theory,  and  his  definition  of  the  Church  as 
"  the  congregation  of  faithful  men,  in  which  the  word  is  purely  preached 
and  the  sacraments  rightly  administered,"  is  an  overthrow  at  once  of  the 
Cyprianic  notion  of  the  clergy  as  constituting  the  Church;  and  it  logical'/ 
works  out  a  separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State.  It  is  plain  on  com- 
paring the  earlier  with  the  later  ideas  of  Luther  that  he  was  driven,  by 
pressure  from  without,  step  by  step  to  recognize  the  civil  magistrate  in  a 
Christian  land  as  somehow  a  part  of  the  Church.  So  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Reformed  Churches,  so  called,  who  embodied  the  first  ideal  of 
Luther.  But  Zuinglo,  while  admitting  the  right  of  representation  in  the 
people,  conceived  that  mayors  and  counsellors  might  be  assumed  to  repre- 
sent the  people,  in  the  Church  organization,  and  appoint  for  them  their 
Church  officers.  Calvin's  ideal  Church  necessarily  flowed  from  his  theo- 
logy ;  and,  far  more  assiduously  than  either  Luther  or  Zuingle,  he  laboured 
to  establish  the  Church  as  a  perfect  spiritual  government.  But  while 
holding  with  Luthei-'s  first  ideal  that  the  Church  and  State  are  two  distinct 
powers,  he  held  also  with  Zuingle  that  the  State  may  suppress  heresy  by 
force.  While  claiming  that  the  Church  is  a  complete  autonomy  under  her 
divinely  appointed  rulers,  yet  like  Zuingle  he  supposes  that  the  "  little 


480  APPENDIX. 

council"  of  state  may  be  assumed  to  represeat  the  people  and  by  advice  of 
the  clergy  appoint  her  ruling  elders.  Bearing  in  mind  that  Calvin,  being 
e<lucated  a  lawyer,  was  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  the  Justinian  code,  then 
still  in  the  ascendant  as  the  source  of  all  law  ;  it  is  not  so  surprising  that 
Calvin,  the  lawyer,  should  have  failed  in  organizing  a  government  accord- 
ing to  the  ideal  of  his  gospel  theology.  In  so  far  as  Calvin  failed  it  was 
as  a  lawyer,  and  in  spite  of  his  theology. 

As  the  Anglican  Reformation  differed  from  the  Lutheran,  in  that  the 
king  rather  than  the  people  took  the  initiative  in  throwing  off  the  Papal 
yoke,  we  therefore  may,  naturally  enough,  expect  to  find  the  Anglican 
theory,  from  the  very  start,  more  Erastian,  that  is,  tending  to  merge  the 
Church  in  the  state  than  the  Lutheran.  Besides  Cranmer,  who  more  than 
any  other  ecclesiastic,  gave  shape  to  the  Anglican  system,  was  thoroughly 
an  Erastian  in  principle,  even  to  the  extent  of  denying  the  necessity  of  any 
other  authority  for  ordination  than  the  king's  commission.  Hooker,  to 
whose  brilliant  genius  the  exposition  and  defence  of  the  Anglican  system 
owes  more  than  any  other  man,  devotes  the  eighth  book  of  his  great  work 
to  the  special  denial  and  refutation  of  the  proposition  that  the  power  of 
ecclesiastical  dominion  may  not  be  given  to  the  civil  ruler  or  prince. 
His  argument  assumes  the  broadest  ground  of  the  ancient  Paganism  in 
making  the  Church  and  the  State  but  two  forms  of  the  one  and  the  same 
thing.  "Just  as,"  says  Hooker,  "though  a  triangle,  contemplated  one 
way,  hath  two  of  its  lines  called  sides  and  the  other  base,  and,  con- 
templated another  way,  may  have  this  base  one  of  the  sides,  and  a  side  the 
base  thereof;  so  the  Church  and  State  is  one  society,  being  called  a  com- 
monwealth, as  it  liveth  under  secular  law,  and  a  church,  as  itliveth  under 
spiritual  law."  All  the  various  theories  of  the  modern  English  parties 
assume  in  substance  this  idea.  Dr.  Arnold's  theory  is  but  a  slight  modifi- 
cation of  Hooker's.  Such  writers  as  Palmer,  while  revolting  at  the  slavery 
of  the  Church  under  such  an  idea,  and  at  the  coarse  logical  results  that 
rationalistic  liberalism  derives  from  the  original  system,  are  driven  to  curious 
logical  expedients  to  shield  the  system,  and  at  the  same  time  to  assert  the 
independence  of  the  Church. 

The  Scottish  of  all  the  National  Churches  of  the  reformation  came 
nearest  to  realizing  the  true  Protestant  ideal  of  an  independent  Church 
To  whatever  cause  we  may  choose  to  ascribe  this — whether  because  Ox 
less  exposure  to  the  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy  or  to  the  necessity  felt 
for  resisting  the  Erastianism  of  the  English  reformation,  or  to  their  clearer 
ideas  of  the  gospel,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  in  Scotland  more  clearly 
and  consistently  than  in  any  of  the  reformed  churches,  was  develoi)ed 
from  the  fii'st,  not  only  an  ideal,  but  an  actual  doctrine  of  the  relation  of 
the  Church  to  the  State,  as  an  independent  governmental  power,  wiiich  l; 
consistent  with  the  true  Protestant  theology.  Indeed,  so  far  were  the 
Scotch  fathers  in  advance  in  their  views  that  their  zeal  for  "  Christ's 


NOTE    D.    TO    DISCOURSE    X.  481 

crown  and  covenant,"  which  motto  embodies  the  essence  of  the  whole 
truth  on  this  subject  of  the  Church's  relation  to  the  State,  has  strangely 
been  made  the  target  for  the  gibes  and  jeers  of  the  English-speaking 
world  ever  since.  And  those  who  have  gibed  and  jeered  have  done  s  > 
chiefly  from  their  want  of  ability  to  comprehend  the  thoughts  of  the  pro- 
founder  thinkers  than  themselves,  even  after  those  thought3  have  been 
worked  out  for  them.  The  preliminary  chapter  of  the  Second  Book  of 
Discipline — the  great  symbol  of  the  Scotch  Church  prior  to  the  Westminster 
form  of  Government — is  beyond  comparison  the  profoundest  philosophical 
disquisition  on  the  principles  which  underlie  constitutional  law  existing 
in  any  language.  Its  great  first  truth,  that  the  power  ecclesiastical  is  from 
Jesus  Clfrist  the  Mediator,  and  is  distinct  in  its  own  nature  from  the  civil 
power  given  by  God  to  the  magistrate,  is  the  great  germinal  principle 
of  all  freedom  in  Church  or  State.  For  the  space  of  a  century  this  noble 
army  of  the  martyrs  attested  the  truth  of  the  freedom  of  Christ's  spiritual 
kingdom,  in  spite  of  fire,  and  fagot,  and  thumb-screws,  and  iron  boot.  It 
was  only  after  the  seductions  and  arts  of  the  civil  power  cheated  the 
Scottish  Church  out  of  what  violence  could  not  wrench  from  her  martyr 
grasp,  that,  in  the  act  of  settlement  under  Queen  Anne,  her  testimony  for 
this  great  truth  was  silenced,  and  she  was  left  to  degenerate  in  the 
eighteenth  century  nigh  to  spiritual  death.  For  just  in  proportion  as  the 
Church  has  been  purest  in  doctrine  and  most  fervent  in  holy  zeal — and 
most  spiritual  in  feeling,  has  this  conception  of  the  two  distinct  powers 
been  developed  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Church.  It  is  only  at  such  an 
era  that  Erskino  of  Dun  could  declare  boldly  to  the  Regent  Mar — "  There 
is  a  spiritual  jurisdiction  and  power  which  God  has  given  unto  his  kirk 
and  to  them  that  bear  office  therein.  And  there  is  a  temporal  power  and 
jurisdiction  given  of  God  to  kings  and  civil  magistrates.  Both  the  powers 
are  of  God,  and  most  agreeing  to  the  fortifying  of  one  another  if  they  be 
rightly  used."  It  is  only  at  such  an  era  that  Andrew  Mellville  dare 
say  to  the  tyrant  James,  "  There  be  two  kings  and  two  kingdoms  here  in 
Scotland.  There  is  King  James,  the  head  of  the  commonwealth;  and 
there  is  Christ  Jesus,  the  King  of  the  Church,  whose  subject  James  Sixth 
is,  and  of  whose  kingdom  he  is  not  a  king,  nor  a  lord,  but  a  member." 

The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  as  gathered  from  the  reformation  history  is, 
that  while  the  true  theory  of  the  relation  of  the  Church  as  independent 
of  the  State  was  conceived  of  generally,  and  in  the  Scotch  Church  fought 
for  during  a  century,  yet  there  was  a  general  failure  to  actualize  the  theory 
for  three  reasons — 1st.  That  the  reformation  was  not  only  a  spiritual  but 
a  political  revolution.  The  chief  aim  of  the  civil  governments  was  to 
emancipate  themselves  from  the  Papal  yoke,  under  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitutions of  Coustantine  and  Justinian.  2nd.  Whatever  ideas  the  Churches 
might  have,  being  compelled  to  take  shelter  under  the  civil  power  against 
the  legions  at  the  command  of  the  Pope,  they  were  not  permitted  to  develop 

vv 


482  APPENDIX. 

them.  3r(l.  In  any  attempt  to  develop  actually  tbe  Church,  as  an  inde- 
pendent spiritual  government — a  "kingdom  not  of  this  world  " — the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  civil  powers,  on  whom  the  Church  was  dependent  for  protection, 
suppressed  the  effort,  4th.  The  current  notion  among  the  civilians  of  that 
era  was  that  of  the  Theodosian  and  Justinian  code — the  whitewashed 
Pagan  theory — of  the  right  of  the  state  to  employ  religion  as  one  of  its 
governing  powers. 

It  may  now  be  added  in  passing,  that,  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  the  reformation  it  was  again  the  generally  received  doctrine — not  of 
the  ecclesiastics  but  of  the  civilians — that  the  state  must  control  religion. 
This  was  the  doctrine  even  of  the  most  sceptical  and  liberalistic  of  them 
all.  Hobbes  claimed  the  right  of  the  sovereign  to  dictate  religious  opin- 
ions ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  any  thing  more  ridiculous  to  an  enlightened 
Christian  man  can  be  found  in  the  times  of  the  school-men,  than  Vattel's 
Chapter  on  religion — though  he  is  still  a  great  luminary  in  our  schools  of 
law.  In  Chap.  12th,  Book  1st,  on  "Piety  and  Religion,"  Vattel  thus 
presents  the  whole  theory  of  modern  liberalism. 

"  §  125.  To  the  practice  of  piety  all  mankind  are  indispensably  obliged, 
and  those  who  unite  in  civil  society  are  under  still  greater  obligation  to 
practice  it.     A  nation  then  ought  to  be  pious. 

"§  127.  Religion  consists  in  doctrines  concerning  the  Deity,  and  the 
things  of  another  life,  and  in  the  worship  appointed  to  the  honour  of  the 
Supreme  Being-  So  far  as  it  is  seated  in  the  heart  it  is  an  affair  of  conscience ; 
so  far  as-it  is  external  and  publicly  established,  it  is  an  affair  of  state. 

"§  129.  The  establishment  of  religion  bylaw,  and  its  public  exercise,  are 
matters  of  state,  and  are  necessarily  under  the  nirisdiction  of  the  political 
authorities. 

"  §  130.  If  there  be  as  yet  no  religion  established  by  public  authority,  the 
nation  ought  to  know  and  use  the  utmost  care  in  order  to  establish  the 
best.  That  which  shall  have  the  approbation  of  the  majority  shall  be 
received  and  publicly  be  established  by  law,  by  which  means  it  will  become 
the  religion  of  the  slate. 

"  It  solely  belongs  to  the  society  the  state  to  determine  the  propriety  of 
those  changes  (in  religion)  ;  and  no  private  individual  has  a  right  to 
attempt  them  on  his  own  authority  nor  consequently  to  preach  to  the  people 
a  new  doctrine.  Let  him  offer  his  sentiments  to  the  conductors  of  the 
nation,  and  submit  to  the  order  he  receives  from  them. 

"  §  139.  The  prodigious  influence  of  religion  on  the  peace  and  welfare  of 
societies  incontrovertibly  proves  that  the  conductor  of  a  nation  ought  to 
have  inspection  of  what  relates  to  it,  and  authority  over  the  ministers  who 
teach  it." 

Here  let  us  remember  is  the  highest  result  of  liberalism  in  religion  amid 
the  opening  glories  of  the  19th  century,  and  from  a  profound  civilian  ! 
We  are  sometimes  asked  how  is  it,  if  Gillespie,  and  the  London  Ministers 


NOTE    D.    TO    DISCOURSE    X.  483 

in  the  "Westminster  Assembly  era,  held  the  theory  of  the  entire  separation 
of  politics  from  religion,  they  yet  should  have  assented  to  so  many  acts  of 
the  Church  inconsistent  with  that  theory  ?  The  answer  is  very  easy  when 
it  is  borne  in  mind  how  arrogant  were  the  claims  not  merely  of  the  Stuarts, 
but  of  the  civilians  and  publicists  as  late  even  as  the  era  of  Vattel.  It 
will  be  seen  that  this  eminent  publicist  propounds  just  as  solemnly  ami  fx 
cathedra  the  fundamental  maxims  of  the  semi-pagan  Justinian  theory  of 
Church  and  State  as  though  no  Reformation  had  ever  occurred,  and  no 
progicss  in  the  world's  history  for  1500  years.  Wliat  pagan  PontllT  or 
Papal  bull  ever  uttered  heathenism  worse  than  Vattel's.  If  such  notions 
still  passed  current  among  civilians,  down  to  the  very  era  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  is  it  wonderful  that  the  Scotcli  Reformers  ohould  have  been 
compelled  to  accept  from  the  civilians  and  politicians,  a  partial  actualiz- 
ation of  their  theory,  and  fail  to  establish  a  free  Church?  Nay,  if  such 
are  the  notions  with  which  students  of  law  are  imbued,  from  the  high 
sources  of  legal  wisdom,  is  it  wonderful  that  even  in  the  American  States 
we  should  find  such  hazy  and  confused  notion;}  among  American  lawj'ers 
of  the  relation  of  the  state  to  religion  ?  Is  it  wonderful  that,  even  in  face 
of  the  American  Constitution,  senii-plous,  and  occasionally  pious  politi- 
cians and  cabinets,  losing  the  confidence  of  the  people  should  rush  eagerly 
for  aid  to  the  Church,  in  their  political  sicknesses?  and  that  republican 
monarchs  should  assume  authority  to  appoint,  and  the  Republican  mob  to 
enforce  the  observance  of  sacred  days,  and  dictate  liturgies  to  the  ministers 
of  the  Church? 

Thus  the  Scottish  doctrines  of  the  independence  of  the  spiritual  com- 
monwealth, though  not  crushed  out  under  the  heel  of  civil  usurpation 
over  the  Church,  at  once,  as  on  the  continent,  yet  were  restrained,  confused, 
and  corrupted  by  the  overpowering  influence  of  the  civilians  and  publicists 
for  two  hundred  years.  The  Scottish  fathers  "  came  unto  their  own,  but 
their  own  received  them  not."'  It  was  resciwed  for  another  age  to  witness 
the  unfolding  of  their  great  principles,  once  the  pressure  of  the  civil  power 
should  be  shaken  off.  It  is  one  of  the  beautiful  laws,  in  the  economy  of 
nature  for  the  propagation  of  certain  plants,  that  the  seeds  are  endowed  by 
nature  with  gossamer  wings,  which,  unfolding  in  the  ripening  process  of 
autumn,  enable  them  to  mount  upon  the  winter  blasts  and  travel  to  distant 
islands  and  continents,  to  fall  there  and  germinate,  to  the  great  surprise  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  far-off  laud.  It  is  a  beautiful  emblem  of  the  pro- 
cesses in  the  spiritual  economy  of  Christ's  kingdom,  whereby  truths  sowa 
in  tears  that  seem  fruitless  and  apparently  forgotten  shall,  as  if  endowed  with 
wings,  float  upon  the  winds  of  human  passion  and  strife,  and  find  a  resting 
place  and  a  germinating  soil  in  far-off  climes,  and  then  produce  the  harvest 
in  joy.  Let  us  notice  now  briefly  how  the  law  had  its  e.^emplification  in 
the  case  of  the  great  distinctive  truths  of  the  Scottish  Reformation. 

As  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  the  general  principles  of  the  Anglican 


484  APPENDIX. 

State  system  obtained  ia  America  until  the  period  of  the  Revolution.  In 
New  England  the  Puritans  had  actualized  their  ideal,  not  of  a  church, 
but  of  a  community  of  churches.  They  had  sought  relief  against  the 
despotism  of  Church  and  State  at  the  opposite  extreme  of  State  and 
Church,  not  making;  the  Church  a  part  of  the  State,  but  the  State  a  part 
of  the  Church.  The  relation  of  religion  to  the  civil  power  in  the  practical 
working  of  the  system  soon  became  thoroughly  Erastian.  At  the  era  ot 
the  formation  of  state  constitutions,  the  old  fallacy  was  embodied  in  the ; 
organic  law  of  Massachusetts,  that  "as  morality  is  essential  to  liberty  and 
good  government,  and  religion  essential  to  morality,  therefore  the  state 
should  provide  for  the  temporal  support  and  propagation  of  religion."  The 
premise  is  true  enough,  but  the  true  inference  is — therefore  the  state 
should  keep  its  sooty  fingers  off  religion — for,  as  all  history  had  shown,  the 
fostering  of  the  state  means,  rather,  to  kill  out  all  spiritual  religion. 
Even  as  late  as  1830,  perhaps,  a  levy  continued  to  be  made  in  Massa- 
chusetts for  the  support  of  religion.  The  result  of  the  modification  of 
Church,  and,  Stateism,  which  compelled  a  man  to  pay  for  religion,  aad  yet 
allowed  him  to  choose  to  what  form  of  religion  and  denomination  his  tax 
should  go,  was  practically  this — that,  as  usual,  the  majority  of  men  having 
little  taste  for  earnest  spiritual  religion,  were  disposed,  if  they  must 
•pay  for  religion  anyhow,  to  pay  towards  the  salary  of  that  minister,  who 
would  trouble  tkein  with  the  least  of  it.  Thus  a  bounty  was  offered  practi- 
cally for  sham  religion — for  "  the  form  of  godliness  that  denied  the  power." 
And  probably  to  this  more  than  any  other  source  may  be  traced  the 
growth  of  the  innumerable  isms  in  religion  for  which  New  England  is  so 
famous. 

The  evil  effects  of  the  fallacy  of  the  New  England  logic  on  the  subject 
extended  far  beyond  the  masses.  Drilled  into  the  minds  of  their  educated 
men  in  their  youth,  these  fallacies  hide  themselves  in  the  minds  of  th^ 
taost  illustrious,  not  only  of  their  theologians,  but  also  of  their  jurists  and 
publicists,  and  seem  to  render  them  incapable  of  perceiving  that  great 
truth  of  the  gospel  which  the  Scottish  fathers  saw  so  clearly  ;  that  there 
are  two  powers,  and  two  commonwealths  ordained  of  God : — one  in  the 
hand  of  the  civil  magistrate  for  the  protection  solely  of  men's  temporal 
interests;  the  other  in  the  hand  of  the  Church  for  the  protection  of  men's 
eternal  interests. 

Even  men  so  illustrious  as  Justice  Story  and  Mr.  Webster, — in  face  of  the 
very  principle  of  the  constitution,  of  which  they  were  the  great  expounders, 
allow  themselves  to  promulge — and  think  they  do  God  and  their  country 
service,  by  propounding — principles  on  the  subject  of  the  functions  of  civil 
government,  as  thoroughly  heathenish,af  not  so  broadly  stated,  as  those 
of  Justinian  or  Vattel.     Says  Judge  Story — (on  the  Const.,  p.  260)  : 

"  The  right  of  a  society  or  government  to  interfere  in  matters  of  religion 
will  hardly  be  contested  by  any  persons  who  believe  that  piety,  religion 


NOTE    D.    TO    DISCOURSE    X.  485 

and  morality  are  intimately  connected  with  the  well-being  of  the  state, 
and  indispensable  to  the  admlriistration  of  civil  justice."*** 

'•  It  is  impossible  for  those  who  believe  in  the  truth  of  Christianity,  as  a 
divine  revelation,  to  doubt  that  it  is  the  especial  duty  of  government  to 
foster  and  encourage  it  among  all  the  citizens  and  subjects."' 

Now  the  author  of  these  discourses  humbly  trusts  that  he  "believes  in 
the  truth  of  Christianity  in  a  higher  and  stricter  sense  even  than  Judge  Story 
did;  and  believes  also  in  the  importance  of  "piety,  religion  and  morality,'' 
&c. ;  yet  he  equally  disbelieves  what  Judge  Story  declares  impossible  of 
disbelief  to  such  ;  namely,  that  it  is  any  special  duty  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment to  foster  religion ;  or  that  it  has  any  rio^ht  to  interfere  in  matters  of 
religion.  And  if,  by  making  this  confession,  he  writes  himself  an  infidel 
in  the  judgment  of  the  body  of  Christians— so  called — with  which  Judge 
Story  is  supposed  to  have  sympathized,  he  has  the  consolation  of  feeling, 
that,  as  will  be  shown  presently,  that  he  stands  with  "Waddel,  and 
Graham,  and  Stanhope  Smith,  of  the  Old  Hanover  Presbytery,  who,  if 
infidels,  were  men  very  zealous  for  piety  and  religion.  He  holds,  as  they 
held,  that  the  state  has  nothing  to  do  wi'th  religion,  except  to  let  it  alone, 
that  it  may  be  kept  pure  and  spiritual,  and  thereby  promote  a  pure 
morality  of  a  somewhat  higher  type  than  events  show  the  New  England 
theory  has  been  able  to  produce  for  the  benefit  of  the  state 

So  also,  Mr.  Webster,  in  his  oft-cited  speech  on  the  Girard  will  case — for 
whom,  indeed,  the  apology  may  be  offered  that  he  is  playing  the  advocate 
and  not  the  judge  : — 

"  We  have  in  the  charter  of  Pennsylvania  that  the  preservation  of  Chris- 
tianity is  one  of  the  leading  ends  of  all  government.  This  is  declared  in 
the  charter  of  the  state.  Then  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  the  statutes 
against  blasphemy,  the  violation  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  others  to  the  same 
eflfect,  proceed  upon  this  great  kroad  principle,  that  the  preservation  of 
Christianity  is  one  of  the  main  ends  of  all  government J^ 

It  is  needless  to  say,  in  response  to  this  declaration,  that,  if  true,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  for  what  end  Jesus  Christ  set  up  a  distinct  spiritual  govern- 
ment; or  how  the  Apostles  could  declare  the  Church  of  the  Living  God 
"  to  be  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."  If  this  is  true,  then,  obviously, 
the  conception  of  Hegel  and  Strauss,  that  the  Church  is  simply  ''  a  crutch 
of  the  state,"  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  Christianity,  is  the  true  one! 
And,  therefore,  the  charter  of  Pennsylvania  is  directly  in  the  fiice  of  Christ's 
order,  of  the  state  for  temporals  and  the  Church  for  spirituals. 

In  the  middle,  and  especially  in  the  southern  colonics,  as  Virginia,  the 
English  state-system  was  formally  established — and  so  thoroughly  fixed  in 
the  j)opular  mind,  that  its  ministers  were  encouraged  to  demand  a  con- 
tinued establishment,  even  after  tlie  independence  of  the  colonies.  This 
brought  on  that  remarkable  conflict  which  led  to  the  celebrated  •'  Act  for 
establishing  Religious  Freedom,"  which  is  probably  the'  first  recognition, 
by  any  civil  power,  in  all  history  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Scotch  Reformers 


486     '^  APPENDIX.  I 

on  the  civil  side  of  it,  and  therefore  to  the  full  and  final  development  -of  the    i 
Scoto-American  theory.  j 

That  the  famous  Act  to  establish  religious  freedom  was  the  legitimate-    J 
result  of  the  Scottish  Reformation,  and  the  actual  shooting  forth  of  the 
seed  wafted  over  the  ocean  from  the  minds  of  the  Scottish  fatliers— a  single    i 
glance  at  the  history  of  that  Act  will  suffice  to*  show.  i 

At  the  era  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  dissenters — Presby-    i 
terians  and  Baptists — not  only  outnumbered  the  Established  Church,  but    ; 
greatly  exceeded  it  in  zeal  for  independence.     These  dissenters,  in  the    j 
struggle  for  civil  liberty,  naturally  enough  demanded  religious  liberty  and    ! 
equality  also.     As  the  result  of  their  first  movement,  we  find  in  the  Bill  of 
Rights,  prefixed  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  passed  in.  1776,  this 
significant  declaration.     Religion  or  the  duty  we  owe  to  the  Creator,  and    ! 
the  manner  of  discharging  it,  can  be  directed  only  by  reason  and  convic- 
tion, not  hy  force  or  violence  ;  And  therefore  all  men  are  equally  entitled, 
to  the  fi-ec  exercise  of  religion  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience.    ' 
This  declaration,  however,  was  merely  abstract,  and  did  not  stay  the  effort 
of  the  Old  Establishment  to  seek  to  be  continued,  at  least  so  far  as  to  be 
incorporated  and  supported  in  common  with  others,  and  to  retain  its 
glebes.     That  we  have  not  ascribed  too  much  influence  to  the  teachings-    [ 
of  the  Scotch  fathers  in  directing  Jefferson  and  Madison  to  the  great  con 
elusion  reached  after  nine  years'  struggle  in  the  Virginia  Legislature)    \ 
appears  from  the  fact  that  the  civilians  were  guided  in  the  matter  largelj'    : 
by  a  series  of  memorials  from  the  Old  Hanover  Presbytery,  drawn  by  such 
men  as  Waddel,  whom  V/irt  has  immortalized  as  the  "  blind  preacher,"  by   j 
Scotch  William  Graham  and  Stanhope  Smith.     And   it  needs  only  the 
citation  of  a  few  passages  from  their  memorials  for  religious  liberty,  to    I 
the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  to  show  that  they  were  thoroughly  imbued    i 
svith  the  spirit  of  the  Scotch  fathers  ;  and  that  in  the  wilderness,  under 
the  encroachments  and  persecutions  of  the  Colonial  State  Church,  they  had 
been  led  a  step  in  advance  of  the  Scotch  fathers.     From  the  first  memorial    , 
of  Hanover  Presbytery  to  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  we  select  the  fol-    I 
lowing: — 

"  We  embrace  the  declaration  of  rights  (Mr.  Jefferson's  bill  already 
quoted)  as  the  Magna  Cliarta  of  our  commonwealth.  Certain  it  is  that  i 
every  argument  for  civil  liberty  gains  additional  weight  when  applied  to  ' 
liberty  in  the  concerns  of  religion.  Neither  can  it  be  made  to  appear  that  \ 
the  gospel  needs  any  such  civil  aid.  We  rather  conceive  that  when  our 
blessed  Saviour  declares  his  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  he  renounces  , 
all  dependence  npon  state  power.  And  we  are  persuaded  that  if  mankind  j 
were  left  in  the  quiet  posselsion  of  their  unalienable  rights  and  privileges^  | 
Christianity,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  would  continue  to  flourish  in  | 
the  greatest  purit}'  by  its  own  native  excellence  and  under  the  ali-dispos-  i 
Ing  Providence  of  God.     We  would  humbly  represent  that  the   only 

PROPER  OBJECTS  OF  CIVIL   GOVERNMENT   ARE    THE  HAPPINESS   AND  PROTECTION      \ 


NOTE    D.    TO   DISCOURSE    X.  487 

OF   MAN    TN  HIS    PRESENT    STATE  OF    EXISTENCE  ;     THE    SKCL'IilTY    OP    THE    LIFK, 
LIBERTY  AND  PROPERTY  OP  THE  CITIZEN." 

So  again,  in  a  memorial  of  Ilanovcr  Presbytery  iu  17  75,  against  a 
general  assessment:  "As  every  good  Christian  believes  thtil  Christ  has 
ordained  a  complete  systcin  of  Lams  for  Ike  qovrniincnt  of  his  ki'ii^dom,  so 
■we  are  persuaded  that  by  his  Providence,  he  will  support  it  to  the  final 
consummation.  In  the  fixed  belief  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  the 
concerns  of  religion  are  beyond  the  limits  of  civil  control,  we  should  act 
an  inconsistent  and  dishonest  part  were  we  to  receive  any  cmolunieuts 
from  human  establishments  for  the  support  of  the  gospel.  If  the  Legisla- 
ture has  any  rightful  authority  over  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  it  is 
their  duty  to  levy  a  maintenance  for  them,  as  such,  then  they  arc  invested 
with  a  power,  and  it  is  incumbent  upon  them  to  declare  vdio  shall  ■preachy 
what  they  shall  preach,  and  to  whom  they  shall  preach."  So  again  in  a 
fourth  memorial  in  August  in  1785,  against  the  incorporation  of  the 
English  Church: 

"  As  Christians  also,  the  subjects  of  Jesus  0  hrist,  we  are  wholly  opposed 
to  the  exercise  of  spiritual  powers  by  civil  rulers.  We  conceive  ourselves 
obliged  to  remonstrate  against  that  part  of  the  Incorporating  Act  which 
authorizes  and  directs  the  regulation  of  spiritual  concerns.  This  is  such 
an  invasion  of  divine  prcro^aiiue,  that  it  is  highly  objectionable  on  that 
account,  as  well  as  on  account  of  the  danger  to  which  it  exposes  our 
religious  liberties.  Jesus  Christ  hath  given  sufficient  authority  lo  his 
Church  for  every  lawful  purposz ;  and  it  is  forsaking;  his  authority  and 
direction,  for  that  of  feeble  men,  to  expect  or  to  grant  the  sanction  of  civil 
law  to  authorize  the  regulation  of  any  Christian  society." 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  here  is  the  revival  of  the  ancient  Scotch 
testimony  to  the  completeness  and  independence  of  Christ's  spiritual 
government;  and  differs  only  in  going  one  step  in  advance  to  the  first 
practical  inference  from  that  doctrine,  which  inference  their  peculiar 
circumstances  prevented  the  Scottish  fathers  from  making.  In  conse- 
quence of  these  persistent  testimonies,  when  the  Act  of  Incorporation  was 
put  upoA  its  passage,  Mr.  Madison  took  a  sudden  turn  upon  the  friends  of 
an  establishment,  by  moving  to  substitute  for  their  bill,  a  bill  which,  seven 
years  before,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  prepared  as  a  part  of  the  revised  statutes  of 
Virginia,  under  the  titleof  "  An  Act  to  establish  Religious  Freedom,"'  since 
so  celebrated,  and  whose  principle  was  intended  doubtless  to  be  embodied 
in  the  article  of  the  Federal  Constitution  forbidding  any  establishment  of 
religion  or  interference  with  it. 

To  perceive  the  connection  between  this  bill  and  the  memorials  of  the 
Presbytery  it  needs  only  that  we  cite  a  sample  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  blil.  it, 
declares  among  other  things: — "that  the  attempt  to  coerce  the  raiiul  In- 
civil  penalties  is  a  departure  from  the  plan  of  the  Author  of  uur  ho!/ 
religion.  That  the  impious  presumption  of  legislators  aud  rulers,  both 
civil  and  ecclesiastical,  in  this  reijard,  hath  established  and  maintained 


488  APPENDIX. 

false  religions  over  the  greater  part  of  the  world  in  all  time.  That  to 
compel  a  man  to  furnish  contributions  of  money  for  the  propagation  of 
opinions  which  he  disbelieves,  is  sinful  and  tyrannical.  That  to  suffer  the 
cvM  viagistrate  to  intrude  his  powers  into  the  field  of  opinion,  is  a  dangerous 
fallacy  which  at  once  destroys  all  religious  liberty.^'  "  That  it  is  time  enough 
for  the  rightful  purposes  of  civil  government  for  its  oflScera  to  interfere 
when  principles  break  out  into  overt  acts  against  peace  and  good  or der.^^  Such 
was  this  great  disavowal — the  first  in  all  history  so  far  as  known  to  the 
author — of  all  claim  to  extend  its  power  over  the  Church  and  religion  by  : 
the  civil  government ;  and  the  formal  adoption,  on  the  civil  side,  of  the 
great  truths  enunciated  by  the  Scotch  fathers  on  the  ecclesiastical  side. 

These  principles,  as  we  have  seen,  were  not  fully  accepted  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States.  In  New  England,  not  only  by  reason  of  the  continued 
influence  of  the  ancient  Erastian  theory — but  also  from  peculiar  prejudice 
against  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  a  sceptic  in  religion,  these  principles  were  re- 
garded with  suspicion.  The  prejudices  against  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  a  sceptic, 
in  other  portions  of  the  country,  combined  with  the  prevalence  of  many 
prejudices  imported  into  the  American  Churches  with  a  ministry  reared 
under  the  established  systems  of  England  and  Scotland,  made  many 
Christian  men  slow  to  receive  them.  All  alike  seemed  to  forget  that  even 
if  Mr.  Jefferson  were  a  sceptic,  God  often  has  made  use  of  unbelieving 
men,  as  Cyrus  a  heathen,  and  caused  them  to  be  the  greatest  benefactors 
of  his  Church.  Perhaps  had  Mr.  Jefferson  not  been,  as  they  charged,  an 
infidel,  the  current  religious  prejudices  of  his  time  would  have  prevented 
him,  as  they  did  the  great  Patrick  Henry,  from  perceiving  the  force  of  the 
statements  and  reasoning  of  the  Hanover  Presbytery  memorials.  But,  in 
spite  of  all  this,  these  principles  were  so  obviously  in  conformity  with  the 
political  doctrines  of  the  constitution  of  the  young  States ;  and  the  influ- 
ence of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison  so  powerful,  that  they  gradually 
became  at  least  theoretically  the  American  doctrine  of  Church  and  State. 
The  subsequent  success  of  the  experiment  in  the  Church  added  also  con- 
tinually to  the  strength  of  the  argument. 

M  1 :  1  has  been  said  and  sung  of  the  results  of  the  American  Revolution 
to  the  civil  liberties  of  mankind.  But  the  day  will  probably  come  when 
these  results  shall  be  held  as  nothing  to  its  results  for  the  Church  of  God 
in  relieving  her  from  bondage  to  the  civil  jDOwer.  Of  all  the  acts  and 
sayings  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  illustrative  of  his  far-sightedness,  this  is  perhaps 
the  most  remarkable,  that  in  selecting  from  among  the  great  acts  of  his 
life  one  significant  act  to  be  recorded  on  his  tomb-stone — he  should  have 
selected  this,  "  Thomas  Jefferson,  author  of  the  act  for  establishing  religious 
freedom."  This  note  having  already  been  extended  far  beyond  the  limits 
intended,  the  author  must  refer  the  reader,  for  a  succinct  statement  of  the 
truths  concerning  the  relation  of  the  secular  and  spiritual  powers,  which 
distinguish  the  true  gospel  from  the  Pagan  theory  whose  history  has  here 
been  traced,  to  the  note  on  Discourse  IV.  in  this  Appendix. 


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